V.I 


WASHINGTON : 
THE   CAPITAL   CITY 


By   Rufus    Rockwell  Wilson 

RAMBLES  IN 
COLONIAL  BYWAYS 

Illustrated    with    photogravzires    and 

half-tones.     i2mo.     Two  volumes 

in  a  box,  $3.00 

"  It  would  be  difficult  to  chance  upon  a 
more  engaging  and  instructive  cicerone 
than  Mr.  Wilson.  Throughout  these  at- 
tractive volumes,  which  are  appropriately 
illustrated  after  drawings  and  photo- 
graphs, the  author  offers  an  exquisite 
fusion  of  historic  fact  and  intimate  per- 
sonal impression." — Critic,    New   York 


WASHINGTON 

THE    CAPITAL    CITY 

AND    ITS    PART    IN    THE 

HISTORY    OF    THE 

NATION 

BY 

Rufus  Rockwell  Wilson 

Author  of  "Rambles  in  Colonial  Byways" 

VOL.    I. 

ILLUSTRATED 


^ 


PHILADELPHIA    ^    LONDON 

J.    B.    LIPPINCOTT    COMPANY 
1901 


Copyright,  igoi 
By  J.  B.  Lippincott  Company 
Published  November  27,  1 901 


Electrotyped  and  Printed  by 
J.  B.  Lippincott  Company^  Philadelphia^  U.  S.  A. 


TO 

MY  MOTHER 

IN    WHOSE    DEAR    COMRADESHIP 

THE    GREATER     PART    OF 

THIS    BOOK    WAS 

WRITTEN 


FOREWORD 

¥ 

The  writer  who  undertakes  to  tell  the  story 
of  Washington  confronts  a  task  the  like  of  which 
is  presented  by  none  of  its  sister  cities.  The 
federal  capital  during  its  hundred  years  of  ex- 
istence has  been  the  political  centre  of  the  re- 
public, the  birthplace  of  parties  and  legislation, 
the  training-ground  and  forum  of  one  generation 
after  another  of  public  men.  Indeed,  from  its 
founding  until  the  present  time  it  has  been  the 
brain  and  heart  of  the  nation. 

This  fact  has  been  kept  constantly  in  mind 
in  the  writing  of  the  present  work,  and,  while 
sketching  the  rise  of  Washington  from  a  wil- 
derness hamlet  to  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
capitals  in  the  world,  the  author  has  also  at- 
tempted adequately  to  portray  the  political 
growth  and  development  of  the  republic.  Wash- 
ington, Jackson,  and  Lincoln,  Webster,  Clay, 
and  Calhoun,  Seward,  Chase,  and  Sumner  are 
an  inseparable  and  vital  part  of  the  history  of 
the  capital  which  they  endeared  to  their  coun- 

5 


Foreword 

trymen,  and  have  in  the  following  pages  the 
place  that  by  right  belongs  to  them.  Liberal 
use,  at  the  same  time,  has  been  made  of  anec- 
dote, in  the  hopeful  belief  that  our. great  men 
can  be  thus  brought  closer  to  a  later  generation 
than  is  possible  in  any  other  way. 

No  pains  has  been  spared  to  assure  accuracy 
of  detail ;  though  in  a  work  intended  primarily 
for  popular  reading  it  has  not  been  thought 
necessary  to  quote  authorities  which  are  within 
the  reach  of  every  student.  Years  of  prepara- 
tion and  many  months  of  exacting  labor  have 
helped  to  the  making  of  a  book  which  it  is  hoped 
will  awaken  in  its  readers  a  new  interest  and 
a  new  pride  in  the  history  of  their  capital  and 
common  country.  Should  this  hope  be  con- 
firmed, the  author  will  count  his  reward  an  am- 
ple one.  His  thanks  are  especially  due  to  James 
F.  Hood,  Esq.,  of  Washington,  who  kindly  fur- 
nished from  his  collection  the  originals  of  five 
of  the  illustrations,  and  to  Messrs.  H.  Virtue  & 
Company,  Limited,  of  London,  for  permission 
to  reproduce  several  early  views. 

R.  R.  W. 


CONTENTS    OF    VOL.    I. 

¥ 

CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.  A  Capital  Built  to  Order ii 

II.  The  Day  of  Small  Things 38 

III.  The  Jeffersonian  Epoch 67 

IV.  The  Old  Order  Changes 97 

Y.  Washington  in  Alien  Hands 123 

VI.  The  Return  of  Peace 150 

VII.  How  Slavery  Cajie  into  Politics     ....  176 

VIII.  An  Era  of  Good  Feeling 202 

IX.  The  Younger  Adams     225 

X.  The  Reign  of  Jackson 250 

XI.  Battles  between  Giants 277 

XII.  A  Day  of  First  Things .  303 

XIII.  The  Democracy  in  Eclipse 329 

XIY.  The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 356 

XV.  A  President  without  a  Party 383 


ILLUSTRATIONS 

PAGE 

AN   EARLY   VIEW   OF   WASHINGTON     .     .     .       Frontispiece 
THE   COTTAGE   OF   JOHN   BURNES,   WHO  OWNED   MUCH 
OF   THE   GROUND   APPROPRIATED    FOR    THE   CAPI- 
TAL  CITY 20 

THE       WASHINGTON       MONUMENT       AS        ORIGINALLY 

PLANNED , 36 

THE   WHITE     HOUSE     BEFORE    ITS    PARTIAL    DESTRUC- 
TION   BY    THE    BRITISH I20 

THE   CAPITOL   IN   MOXROE'S   TIME — EAST   FRONT       .     .      I4S 
WASHINGTON    IN   VAN    BUREN's   TIME 337 


WASHINGTON : 
THE    FEDERAL    CITY 

CHAPTER    I 

A    CAPITAL    BUILT    TO    ORDER 

WASHINGTON  during  its  first  century  of 
existence  has  become  one  of  the  great 
capitals  of  the  world.  It  has  also  grown  to  be 
the  most  beautiful  city  in  our  country.  Among 
centres  of  authority  and  pleasure,  only  Paris 
equals  it  in  beauty  and  charm,  and  Paris  has  be- 
hind it  a  thousand  years  of  history.  The  reason 
for  this  lies  partly  in  the  fact  that  ^^'ashington  is 
a  city  planned  and  built  solely  for  the  purposes 
of  government.  It  is,  perhaps,  the  only  capital 
which  has  had  such  an  origin;  which  is  named 
after  a  nation's  first  leader,  laid  out  according 
to  his  individual  views,  and  beautified,  in  the 
main,  according  to  his  ideas  of  beauty.  Indeed, 
Washington,  as  it  stands  to-day,  may  be  said 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

to  express  George  Washington's  intention  and 

personal  taste. 

The  selection  of  a  site  for  a  permanent  capi- 
tal was  one  of  the  tasks  which  fell  to  the  First 
Congress.  A  settlement  was  reached  only  after 
a  long  and  bitter  contest,  for  sectional  jealousies 
were  strong  and  members  of  Congress  from  the 
New  England  States  and  from  New  York  in- 
clined to  the  belief  that  those  from  the  South 
might  gain  undue  advantage  over  them.  Thus, 
the  judgment  of  Congress  often  changed,  and 
as  its  favor  shifted  from  site  to  site — now  the 
Susquehanna,  then  the  falls  of  the  Delaware, 
again  the  Potomac, — warmly  favored  by  Wash- 
ington, as  his  correspondence  shows, — and  later 
Germantown — the  country  was  thrown  into  a 
turmoil  of  conflicting  opinion  and  interests.  A 
bill  at  one  time  passed  both  the  House  and  Sen- 
ate locating  the  capital  at  Germantown,  now  a 
suburb  of  Philadelphia,  but  delay  ensuing,  re- 
consideration was  had,  and  Germantown  lost 
its  opportunity. 

So  stubborn  grew  the  contest  that  it  was 
feared  that  the  union  of  States,  as  yet  none  too 
strongly  welded,  would  be  shattered  ere  a  set- 
tlement was  reached,  and  save  for  the  political 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

sagacity  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  these  fears 
might  have  had  confirmation.  Hamilton,  then 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  had  proposed  to  Con- 
gress, as  an  essential  feature  of  his  plans  for 
placing  the  federal  finances  on  a  solvent  and 
enduring  basis,  the  assumption  by  the  general 
government  of  the  debts  contracted  by  the  sev- 
eral States  while  prosecuting  the  War  of  Inde- 
pendence. Members  from  the  Southern  States, 
whose  war  debts  were  proportionately  much 
smaller  than  those  of  the  New  England  and 
other  Northern  States,  influenced  less  by  finan- 
cial interests  than  by  local  pride,  and  fearful 
also  of  a  too  great  central  power,  stoutly  op- 
posed the  measure,  while  the  Northern  members 
almost  to  a  man  were  resolved  upon  its  adop- 
tion. Debated  for  weeks,  it  finally  failed  of  pas- 
sage in  the  House  by  a  slender  margin  of  two 
votes.  The  minority,  however,  refused  to  accept 
this  decision,  declining  to  transact  any  business 
whatsoever  until  it  had  been  reversed,  and  day 
after  day  the  House  met  only  to  adjourn. 
Again,  as  in  the  dispute  over  a  site  for  the  pro- 
jected capital,  there  were  whispered  threats  of 
secession  and  a  dissolution  of  the  Union. 

Then  it  was  that  Hamilton,  by  using  Thomas 
13 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

Jefferson,  lately  come  from  France  to  take  the 
chief  place  in  Washington's  Cabinet,  and  still 
a  stranger  to  partisan  and  sectional  differ- 
ences, as  an  instrument  to  put  an  end  to  both 
disputes,  showed  how  consummate  a  politician 
he  could  be  in  support  of  his  statesmanship. 
The  Southern  members,  eagerly  seconding 
Washington's  fondly  cherished  desire,  had 
asked  that  the  seat  of  the  federal  government 
be  established  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac,  and 
when  Congress  refused  this  request,  their  anger 
had  rivalled  that  of  the  Northern  men  upon  the 
question  of  the  State  debts.  Might  it  not  be, 
Hamilton  asked  Jefferson,  at  a  chance  meeting 
in  front  of  the  President's  house  in  New  York, 
that  the  Southern  men  would  agree  to  vote  for 
the  assumption  of  the  State  debts  if  the  North- 
ern members  promised  to  support  a  bill  for  a 
capital  on  the  Potomac,  and  would  not  the  Sec- 
retary of  State  exert  his  good  offices  to  bring 
such  a  result  about  ?  The  suggestion  came  as 
if  upon  the  thought  of  the  moment,  but  was  so 
earnestly  and  eloquently  urged  by  Hamilton  that 
Jefferson  declared  that  "  although  a  stranger  to 
the  whole  subject,"  he  would  be  glad  to  lend 
what  aid  he  could.  Jefferson  writes, — 
14 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

"  I  proposed  to  him  to  dine  with  me  next  day, 
and  I  would  invite  another  friend  or  two,  bring 
them  into  conference  together,  and  I  thought  it 
impossible  that  reasonable  men,  consulting  to- 
gether coolly,  could  fail,  by  some  mutual  sacri- 
fices of  opinion,  to  form  a  compromise  which 
was  to  save  the  Union.  The  discussion  took 
place.  ...  It  was  finally  agreed" — so  heal- 
ing was  the  influence  of  good  wine  and  good 
fellowship — "  that  whatever  importance  had 
been  attached  to  the  rejection  of  this  proposi- 
tion, the  preservation  of  the  Union  and  of  con- 
cord among  the  States  was  more  important; 
and  that,  therefore,  it  would  be  better  that  the 
vote  of  rejection  should  be  rescinded,  to  effect 
which  some  members  should  change  their  votes. 
But  it  was  observed  that  this  pill  would  be  pe- 
culiarly bitter  to  the  Southern  States,  and  that 
some  concomitant  measure  should  be  adopted 
to  sweeten  it  a  little  to  them.  There  had  been 
propositions  to  fix  the  seat  of  government  either 
at  Philadelphia  or  at  Georgetown  on  the  Poto- 
mac; and  it  was  thought  that  by  giving  it  to 
Philadelphia  for  ten  years,  and  to  Georgetown 
permanently  afterwards,  this  might,  as  an  ano- 
dyne, calm  in  some  degree  the  ferment  which 
15 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

might  be  excited  by  the  other  measure  alone. 
So  two  of  the  Potomac  members  .  .  .  agreed 
to  change  their  votes,  and  Hamilton  undertook 
to  carry  the  other  point." 

Thus  the  assumption  bill  secured  the  sanction 
of  Congress,  and  in  the  same  manner  an  act 
was  adopted,  which  received  executive  approval 
on  July  1 6,  1790,  giving  the  sole  power  to  the 
President  to  select  a  federal  territory  "  not  ex- 
ceeding ten  miles  square  on  the  river  Potomac 
at  some  space  between  the  mouths  of  the  East- 
ern Branch  and  the  Conongocheague  for  the 
permanent  seat  of  the  government  of  the  United 
States."  A  later  act,  at  Washington's  sugges- 
tion, changed  these  boundaries  so  as  to  include, 
besides  the  village  of  Georgetown  in  Maryland, 
a  portion  of  Virginia  with  the  town  of  Alexan- 
dria. Maryland  and  Virginia  promptly  ceded 
to  the  United  States  the  territory  required,  but, 
in  1846,  all  that  portion  of  the  district  lying  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  Potomac  was  retroceded 
by  Congress  to  the  State  of  Virginia,  so  that 
the  federal  territory  now  comprises  sixty-four 
miles,  bounded  on  three  sides  by  the  State  of 
Maryland  and  on  the  fourth  by  the  Potomac. 

The  site  of  the  present  city,  covering  the 
16 


'      A  Capital  Built  to   Order 

lower  portion  of  the  district,  was  selected  by 
Washington  In  January,  1791,  but  had  been 
seen  and  admired  by  him  many  years  before. 
When  a  boy  he  saw  it  while  riding  the  country 
on  horseback,  and  he  spoke  of  it  when  as  a 
young  man  he  camped  with  Braddock  on  the 
hill  where  now  stands  the  Naval  Observatory. 
Then  all  that  met  the  eye  were  wooded  slopes 
partly  tilled  by  two  or  three  farmers ;  hill-tops 
thickly  sprinkled  with  scrub-oaks,  and  lowlands 
covered  with  underbrush  of  alder;  but  between 
the  Potomac,  slow  widening  to  meet  the  sea, 
the  bluffs,  a  mile  and  a  half  away,  and  the 
heights  of  Rock  Creek  at  Georgetown  and  of 
the  Eastern  Branch,  five  miles  apart,  there  lay 
a  spacious  amphitheatre  of  such  gentle  slopes 
and  useful  levels  that  the  attention  of  the  young 
surveyor  was  quickly  attracted  to  it. 

Washington,  always  more  of  a  merchant  and 
an  engineer  than  an  artist,  had  thoughts  of  a 
great  commercial  city  here,  with  the  navigable 
Potomac,  reaching  to  the  sea,  to  help  it  in  the 
race  for  supremacy.  The  site  of  this  future  city 
he  often  passed  on  his  way  to  and  from  George- 
town,   and    later,    when    occupied    with   public 

cares,  while  travelling  from  the  North  to  his 
I.— 2  17 


Washington  :   The   Federal    City 

home  at  Mount  Vernon.  The  Indians  for  gen- 
erations used  this  site  as  a  meeting-place,  hold- 
ing there  many  council-fires,  and  this  legislative 
and  governmental  use  of  the  ground  by  the  red 
men,  traditions  of  which  survived  all  through 
Washington's  life,  may  have  suggested  to  him 
a  similar  use  by  the  new  possessors  of  the  soil. 

However  this  may  have  been,  there  is  no 
doubt  that  Washington  was  the  first  and  fore- 
most champion  of  the  location  of  the  federal 
capital  on  the  banks  of  the  Potomac;  and  his 
letters  offer  abundant  evidence  that  it  was  with 
more  than  his  usual  zeal  and  hopefulness  that, 
early  in  1791,  he  set  about  the  work  of  trans- 
forming an  isolated  tract  of  farm  land  into  a 
centre  of  legislation  for  half  a  continent.  The 
private  owners  of  the  land  proved  a  source  of 
vexation  and  of  slight  delay.  These,  for  the 
most  part,  were  the  descendants  of  a  little  band 
of  Scotch  and  Irish,  settled  on  the  land  for  a 
hundred  years  or  more,  who  had  inherited  from 
their  fathers  habits  of  thrift  and  the  ability,  on 
occasion,  to  drive  a  hard  bargain. 

Aged  David  Burnes,  a  justice  of  the  peace 
and  a  tobacco  planter  in  a  small  way,  proved 
the  most  stubborn  and  grasping  of  all.  Even 
iS 


A   Capital   Built  to  Order 

Washington  was  at  first  unable  to  do  anything 
with  "  obstinate  jMr.  Burnes,"  who  did  not  want 
a  capital  at  his  front  door,  and  did  not  care 
whether  or  not  the  seat  of  government  came  to 
the  banks  of  the  Potomac.  Washington  argued 
with  him  for  several  days,  explaining  to  him 
the  advantages  he  was  resisting;  to  all  of  which, 
so  the  tradition  runs,  Burnes  made  reply, — 

"  I  suppose  you  think  people  here  are  going 
to  take  every  grist  that  comes  from  you  as  pure 
grain;  but  what  would  you  have  been  if  you 
had  not  married  the  widow  Custis?" 

Small  wonder  that  Washington,  losing  pa- 
tience in  the  face  of  this  ill-tempered  rejoinder, 
bluntly  informed  crusty  David  that  the  gov- 
ernment wanted  his  land  and  proposed  getting 
it  in  one  way  or  another.  Burnes,  thereupon, 
capitulated,  and  on  March  30,  1791,  joined  the 
other  owners  of  the  site  in  an  agreement  to 
convey  to  the  government,  out  of  their  farms, 
all  the  land  which  was  needed  for  streets,  ave- 
nues, and  public  reservations,  free  of  cost. 
The  owners  also  agreed  to  sell  the  land  needed 
for  public  buildings  and  improvements  for  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  dollars  per  acre.  All 
the  rest  the  government  divided  into  building 
19 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

lots  and  apportioned  between  itself  and  the  own- 
ers. The  small  lots  were  to  be  sold  by  the  gov- 
ernment, and  out  of  the  proceeds  payment  was 
to  be  made  for  the  large  ones.  In-  this  way, 
without  advancing  a  dollar  and  at  a  total  cost 
of  thirty-six  thousand  dollars,  the  government 
acquired  a  tract  of  six  hundred  acres  in  the 
heart  of  the  city.  The  ten  thousand  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-six  building  lots  assigned  to  it 
ultimately  proved  to  be  worth  eight  hundred 
and  fifty  thousand  dollars,  and  now  represent  a 
value  of  seventy  million  dollars.  Shrewd  finan- 
cier as  he  was,  it  is  doubtful  if  Washington  ever 
made  another  so  good  a  bargain  as  that  with 
Burnes  and  his  neighbors.  Burnes  in  parting 
with  the  acres  which  he  did  not  want  to  see 
spoiled  for  a  good  farm  to  make  a  poor  capital, 
stipulated  that  the  modest  house  in  which  he 
lived  should  not  be  interfered  with  in  the  lay- 
ing out  of  the  city.  This  condition  was  agreed 
to  by  Washington,  and  Burnes's  cottage  stood 
until  a  few  years  ago,  one  of  the  historical 
curiosities  of  the  capital. 

After  David  Burnes,  the  most  considerable 
owners  of  the  land  taken  for  the  federal  city 
were    Samuel    Davidson,    Xotley    Young,    and 


A  Capital   Built   to   Order 

Daniel  Carroll.  Young,  who  held  nearly  all 
of  the  property  in  the  centre  of  the  city  and  on 
the  river  front  between  Seventh  and  Eleventh 
Streets,  acquired  wealth  from  sales  and  leases 
of  his  property,  and  erected  a  substantial  resi- 
dence on  G  Street,  South,  overlooking  the  Po- 
tomac, where  he  lived  in  comfort  until  his  death 
in  the  closing  years  of  the  first  quarter  of  the 
last  century.  Worse  luck  attended  Carroll,  who 
owned  the  land  to  the  east  of  Young.  This 
gentleman,  brother  of  the  first  Catholic  bishop 
of  Baltimore,  cousin  of  Charles  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton,  and  himself  a  member  of  the  conven- 
tion that  framed  the  Constitution  and  of  the 
First  Congress,  was  so  firm  a  believer  in  the 
future  greatness  of  the  federal  city  that  when 
Stephen  Girard  offered  him  two  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  for  a  portion  of  his  estate,  he  re- 
fused the  offer,  demanding  five  times  that  sum. 
Carroll's  greed,  however,  soon  wrought  his  un- 
doing; the  high  price  placed  upon  the  lots  held 
by  him  compelled  many  who  wished  land  for 
the  erection  of  houses  and  business  structures 
to  settle  in  the  northern  and  western  parts  of 
the  city,  and  the  tide  of  population  turning  per- 
manently to  the  north  and  west  decided  the  fate 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

of  the  eastern  quarter.  Thus  Carroll's  dream 
of  great  wealth  came  to  a  luckless  ending.  All 
that  he  could  leave  his  heirs  when  he  died  was  a 
heavily  encumbered  estate,  and  so  late  as  1873 
six  acres  of  the  Carroll  tract,  upon  which  his 
descendants,  during  a  period  of  eighty  years, 
had  paid  sixteen  thousand  dollars  in  taxes, — 
this  in  the  hope  of  a  profitable  sale, — were 
finally  disposed  of  for  three  thousand  six  hun- 
dred dollars. 

Carroll's  splendid  confidence  in  the  value  of  his 
holdings  may  have  been  due  in  part  to  the  pride 
which  the  pioneer  always  takes  in  his  work,  for 
he  was  one  of  the  three  commissioners  selected 
by  Washington  to  have  entire  charge  of  the  sur- 
veying and  laying  out  of  the  district  and  the 
erection  of  the  necessary  public  buildings.  The 
other  two  were  Thomas  Johnson,  of  Maryland, 
and  David  Stuart,  of  Virginia,  and  on  April 
15,  1 79 1,  with  impressive  Masonic  ceremony, 
and  in  the  presence  of  a  goodly  assemblage, 
they  laid  the  first  boundary-stone  of  the  dis- 
trict at  Jones's  Point,  on  the  Virginia  side  of 
the  Potomac.  Early  in  the  following  Septem- 
ber the  commissioners  decided  to  call  the  federal 
district    the    Territory    of    Columbia, — a    title 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

changed  some  years  later  to  the  District  of  Co- 
kimbia;  and  the  city  to  be  established  on  the 
river  bank  the  City  of  Washington, — this  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  the  President,  but  with 
the  hearty  approval  of  Congress  and  the  people. 
Meanwhile,  Major  Pierre  Charles  L'Enfant 
had  been  selected  by  Washington  and  Jefferson 
to  draw  the  plan  of  "  the  new  federal  town." 
L'Enfant,  a  Frenchman  and  a  kinsman  of 
D'Estaing,  was  a  skilful  military  engineer  who 
had  come  to  America  in  April,  i  'j'jy,  in  the  train 
of  Lafayette.  Although  then  but  twenty-two 
years  of  age,  his  skill  as  a  designer  of  fortifica- 
tions— it  was  he  who  planned  Fort  Mifflin,  on 
the  Delaware,  famous  for  its  gallant  and  suc- 
cessful resistance  to  the  most  resolutely  vigorous 
assault  of  the  Revolution — speedily  attracted  the 
attention  of  Washington,  and  L'Enfant  was 
made  chief  of  engineers  under  the  direct  com- 
mand of  the  commander-in-chief,  with  the 
brevet  of  major  of  engineers.  When  the 
French  contingent,  who  had  so  nobly  served 
the  American  cause,  sailed  for  home,  in  1783, 
L'Enfant  remained  behind.  Later,  at  the  in- 
stance of  Washington,  he  designed  the  insignia 
of  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  The  remodel- 
23 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

ling  of  the  city  hall  in  New  York  was  also  his 
work,  and  in  other  ways  he  clearly  proved  his 
fitness  for  the  task  now  assigned  him. 

Major  L'Enfant  devoted  the  spring  and  sum- 
mer of  1 79 1  to  elaborating  his  plans  for  the 
projected  city.  One  point  he  quickly  settled, — 
he  would  not  plan  for  thirteen  States  and  three 
millions  of  people,  but  for  a  republic  of  fifty 
States  and  five  hundred  millions;  not  for  a 
single  century,  but  for  a  thousand  years.  Dom- 
inated by  this  thought,  he  builded  better  and 
wiser  than  any  one  in  his  lifetime  was  willing 
to  acknowledge,  for  truth  compels  the  statement 
that  the  chief  men  of  his  day,  meagrely  educated 
and  reared,  for  the  most  part,  in  the  practice 
of  the  strictest  private  economy,  were  provin- 
cial and  narrow  in  their  ideas  of  art  and  gov- 
ernment expenditure.  Jefferson  was  the  only 
man  then  conspicuous  in  public  life  who  had 
any  considerable  art  culture,  and  even  Jef- 
ferson wanted  the  city  laid  out  in  a  regu- 
larity of  squares  with  all  the  streets  intersect- 
ing at  right  angles,  as  in  Philadelphia,  and, 
unfortunatelv,  in  most  other  American  cities. 
L'Enfant  made  the  regular  chess-board  squares 
as  Jefferson  wanted,  but  he  also  put  in  so  many 
24 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

avenues  running  at  acute  angles  that  the  mo- 
notonous effect  was  happily  destroyed,  and  the 
opportunity  presented  for  making  of  the  capital 
the  magnificent  city  it  has  since  become. 

Washington  desired  that  the  building  in 
which  Congress  was  to  hold  its  meetings  should 
be  located  at  a  distance  from  the  Executive 
Mansion  and  the  other  public  buildings.  Ac- 
cordingly, L'Enfant,  fixing  upon  the  broad 
plateau  in  the  eastern  section  as  a  site  for  the 
Capitol,  located  the  other  public  buildings  in 
the  western  section,  more  than  a  mile  distant. 
To  this  arrangement  John  Adams,  then  Vice- 
President,  entered  his  objection,  insisting  with 
vigor  that  the  Capitol  or  Congress  house  should 
be  placed  in  the  centre  of  a  great  square  of  pub- 
lic buildings;  but  Washington  came  promptly 
to  the  defence  of  his  own  and  his  engineer's 
plans,  giving  as  a  reason  for  the  disposition  de- 
cided upon — and  Washington  always  had  an 
excellent  reason  for  whatever  he  did — that  if 
Congress  and  the  executive  officers  were  located 
close  together,  the  latter  would  be  so  annoyed 
by  the  former  that  they  would  have  to  take  their 
business  home  in  order  to  keep  up  with  it. 

Other  details  determined  upon  by  L'Enfant 
25 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

met  witli  sharp  criticism,  but  his  plan  as  a 
whole  was  accepted  without  delay  by  \\'ashing- 
ton,  and  the  author  engaged  to  superintend  its 
execution.  L'Enfant  had  as  assistant  Andrew 
Ellicott,  a  self-educated  Pennsylvania  Quaker, 
who  later  in  life  became  professor  of  mathe- 
matics at  \\^est  Point.  The  streets  and  squares 
of  the  city  were  chiefly  laid  out  by  Ellicott,  and 
before  the  erection  of  any  building  was  per- 
mitted a  survey  was  made  and  recorded,  to 
which  all  subsequent  building  operations  had  to 
conform. 

The  States  of  ^Maryland  and  \'irginia, 
prompted  by  the  location  of  the  federal  capital 
within  their  borders,  voted  one  hundred  and 
ninety-two  thousand  dollars  to  the  United 
States  to  aid  in  the  erection  of  the  projected 
public  buildings,  and  in  ]\Iarch,  1792,  shortly 
after  the  completion  of  the  preliminary  survey 
of  the  city,  Carroll  and  his  fellow-commission- 
ers advertised  for  designs  for  the  Capitol  and 
for  "  the  President's  House,"  offering  in  each 
instance  a  premium  of  five  hundred  dollars  and 
a  building  lot  to  the  author  of  the  accepted  de- 
sign. Among  the  submitted  designs  for  the 
Executive  IMansion  was  one  by  James  Hoban, 
26 


A   Capital    Built   to   Order 

a  }oung"  architect  of  Charleston.  South  Caro- 
lina. This  design,  wliich  followed  that  of  the 
palace  of  the  Duke  of  Leinster  in  Dublin,  being 
ajiprovcd,  Hoban  was  awarded  the  premium 
and  engaged  at  a  yearly  salary  of  a  hundred 
pounds  to  superintend  the  construction  of  the 
mansion,  which  was  soon  given  the  name  of 
White  House.  Tradition  has  it  that  this  name 
was  prompted  by  the  popular  regard  for  ]\Iartha 
Washington,  whose  early  home  on  the  Pamunky 
River,  in  Virginia,  was  so  called.  The  corner- 
stone of  the  White  House  having  been  laid  on 
October  13,  179J,  in  accordance  with  the  rites 
of  Masonry,  the  work  of  construction  was  begim 
at  once,  but  the  building  was  not  entirely  com- 
jileted  until  ten  years  later. 

For  the  Capitol  sixteen  designs  were  sub- 
mitted by  as  many  architects,  but  all,  after  care- 
ful examination,  were  counted  unworthy  of  se- 
rious consideration.  Soon,  however,  Stephen 
L.  Hallett,  a  French  architect  residing  in  Xew 
York,  forwarded  to  the  commissioners  a  sketch 
of  a  design  which  met  with  la\or.  and  he  was 
invited  to  perfect  it.  Hallett  had  not  com- 
pleted his  labors  when  Dr.  William  Thornton,  a 
clever  native  of  the  West  Tmlics,  who  had  latelv 


*     Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

taken  up  his  residence  in  the  United  States, 
submitted  a  design  to  Washington  and  Jeffer- 
son which  so  pleased  them  that  the  President 
requested  its  adoption,  suggesting  that,  as 
Thornton  had  no  practical  knowledge  of  archi- 
tecture, the  execution  of  his  design  be  intrusted 
to  Hallett. 

This  was  done,  Thornton's  design  being  ac- 
cepted by  the  commissioners,  and  Hallett  ap- 
pointed supervising  architect  with  a  salary  of 
four  hundred  pounds  a  year.  The  corner-stone 
of  what  was  to  be  the  north  wing  of  the  Capitol 
was  laid  on  September  i8,  1793,  on  which  oc- 
casion Washington  delivered  an  oration  and  the 
Grand  Master  of  the  Maryland  Masons  an  ap- 
propriate address.  "  After  the  ceremony,"  to 
quote  a  contemporary  account  of  the  affair, 
"  the  assemblage  retired  to  an  extensive  booth, 
where  they  enjoyed  a  barbecue  feast." 

Ill-timed  and  unseemly  bickerings  followed 
this  jocund  and  peaceful  incident.  Hallett,  the 
architect,  quarrelled  with  Thornton,  who  had 
now  become  one  of  the  commissioners  of  the 
district,  and  when  requested  to  surrender  his 
various  drawings  and  designs,  peremptorily  de- 
clined to  do  so.  He  was,  therefore,  dismissed, 
28 


A   Capital   Built   to   Order 

and  his  place  given  to  George  Hadfield,  an  Eng- 
lishman vouched  for  by  Benjamin  West.  When 
Hadfield  in  his  turn  quarrelled  with  the  commis- 
sioners and  resigned,  work  on  the  Capitol  was 
continued  by  Hoban,  the  architect  of  the  White 
House,  and  the  north  wing  completed  in  1800. 
Hoban  resided  in  Washington  until  his  death 
in  1833,  and  accumulated  a  large  estate  by  the 
practice  of  his  profession. 

]\Iajor  L'Enfant,  the  designer  of  the  city,  was 
not  so  fortunate  as  Hoban,  for  before  work 
began  on  either  the  White  House  or  the  Capitol 
he  w^as  dismissed  from  his  office  by  order  of 
Washington.  L'Enfant  was  not  wholly  at 
fault  in  the  matter.  Daniel  Carroll,  without 
regard  for  the  plans  of  the  engineer,  had  begun 
the  erection  of  a  large  brick  house  in  the  middle 
of  New  Jersey  Avenue,  whereupon  L'Enfant, 
who  considered  himself  as  a  military  officer  re- 
sponsible only  to  the  government,  had  his  as- 
sistants attack  it  and  raze  it  to  the  ground. 
This  threw  Carroll  into  a  violent  rage,  and 
brought  a  letter  from  Washington  warning 
L'Enfant  that  he  and  everybody  were  subordi- 
nate to  the  common  law.  Furthermore,  the 
President  ordered  the  rebuilding  of  Carroll's 
29 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

house  precisely  as  it  was  before,  but,  very  wisely, 
not  in  the  middle  of  New  Jersey  Avenue. 

L'Enfant  after  that  had  at  least  one  resolute 
enemy  among  the  commissioners  of  the  district, 
and  soon  another  unfortunate  incident  placed 
him  at  odds  with  the  other  two.  The  commis- 
sioners, to  secure  much-needed  funds,  adver- 
tised a  public  sale  of  lots  to  take  place  in  Octo- 
ber, 1 79 1,  but  L'Enfant,  when  asked  to  do  so, 
refused  to  give  up  his  plans  to  be  examined  by 
prospective  purchasers  that  they  might  buy 
lands  wherever  they  wished,  claiming  that  if 
his  maps  were  published  speculators  would  at 
once  leap  upon  the  best  lands  in  his  vistas  and 
public  squares  and  raise  huddles  of  shanties, 
which  would  permanently  disfigure  the  city. 

This  contention,  viewed  in  the  light  of  experi- 
ence, does  not  seem  an  unreasonable  one,  but 
to  Washington  it  smacked  dangerously  of  in- 
subordination, and  in  a  letter  to  the  commis- 
sioners he  authorized  them  to  dismiss  L'Enfant. 
"  Men  who  possess  talents  which  fit  them  for 
peculiar  purposes,"  wrote  the  President,  "  are 
almost  invariably  under  the  influence  of  unto- 
ward dispositions,  or  a  sottish  pride,  or  pos- 
sessed of  some  other  disqualification  by  which 
30 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

they  plague  all  those  with  whom  they  are  con- 
cerned. But  I  did  not  expect  to  meet  with  such 
perverseness  in  Major  L'Enfant  as  his  late 
conduct  exhibited." 

A  curious  instance  of  the  poverty  and  econ- 
omy of  L'Enfant's  time  is  found  in  the  fact  that 
for  planning  the  federal  city  and  giving  his 
personal  attention  for  many  months  to  the  sur- 
vey and  preliminary  operations  he  w^as  paid  the 
small  sum  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  dol- 
lars. Ellicott,  who  succeeded  him,  was  accused 
of  greediness  because  he  desired  to  be  paid  five 
dollars  per  day  and  expenses,  and  was  finally 
induced  by  Jefferson  to  forego  reimbursement. 
L'Enfant  continued  to  live  in  the  city  he  had 
planned  and  was  long  a  familiar  figure  on  its 
streets,  clad  usually  in  "  blue  military  coat,  but- 
toned close  to  the  chin,  broadcloth  breeches, 
cavalry  boots,  a  napless,  bell-crowned  hat  upon 
his  head,  and  swinging  as  he  walked  a  hickory 
cane  with  a  silver  top."  Towards  the  close  of 
his  life  he  became  a  petitioner  before  Congress 
for  a  redress  of  his  real  and  fancied  wrongs, 
but  little  heed  was  paid  to  his  appeals,  and  in 
June,  1825,  he  died,  a  disappointed  and  broken 
old  man. 

31 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

Differences  with  L'Enfant,  Hallett,  and  the 
rest  were  not  the  only  obstacles  with  which  the 
builders  of  the  federal  city  were  compelled  to 
contend.  Most  serious  and  embarrassing  of  all 
was  the  ever-present  need  of  money.  It  had 
been  hoped  that  before  the  sums  subscribed  by 
Virginia  and  Maryland  were  expended  the  sales 
of  lots  w^ould  supply  the  balance  needed  to  com- 
plete the  public  buildings.  This  expectation, 
however,  was  only  partly  realized.  After  the 
first  influx  of  speculators — among  whom  none 
bought  more  largely  and  lost  more  heavily  than 
Robert  Morris,  the  "  superintendent  of  finance" 
and  friend  of  the  government  in  the  dark  days 
of  1 78 1 — the  sale  of  real  estate  languished. 
Foreigners  had  more  confidence  than  natives  in 
the  success  of  the  experiment.  Engraved  plans 
of  the  city  were  widely  distributed  abroad ;  Con- 
gress passed  a  law  allowing  aliens  to  hold  land 
in  the  city;  and  for  a  time  lots  brought  ab- 
surdly high  prices  in  London.  The  home  trade, 
however,  ceased  almost  entirely  after  1794,  while 
many  of  the  earlier  contracts  for  lots  were  re- 
pudiated by  buyers  unable  to  fulfil  their  agree- 
ments, or  who  had  taken  alarm  frorn  the  hurt- 
ful rumor,  industriously  spread,  that  Congress 
32 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

would  never  remove  to  the  Potomac,  but  would 
remain  at  Philadelphia. 

Before  the  walls  of  the  Capitol  and  the  White 
House  had  reached  the  roof -line  the  commis- 
sioners were  obliged,  in  1796,  to  ask  Congress 
for  an  appropriation  of  money.  Congress  re- 
sponded to  this  request  by  authorizing  them 
to  negotiate  a  loan  of  eight  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  This  loan  was  guaranteed  by  the  gov- 
ernment, but  the  money  was  not  to  be  had  on 
the  terms  proposed.  However,  after  some  delay, 
the  State  of  Maryland,  at  Washington's  urgent 
personal  request,  took  two-thirds  of  the  loan, 
stipulating  that  the  commissioners,  two  of  w^hom 
were  men  of  means,  should  add  their  individual 
guarantee  to  that  of  the  government.  Congress, 
in  1798,  again  appealed  to  by  the  commissioners, 
voted  an  appropriation  of  one  hundred  thousand 
dollars,  and  in  the  following  year  the  State  of 
Maryland  lent  them  half  that  sum,  requiring,  as 
before,  private  security  for  its  repayment. 

Work  on  the  Capitol  and  the  White  House 
made  fair  progress  as  a  result  of  these  efforts, 
and  two  other  public  buildings  were  begun  and 
pushed  towards  completion.  The  last  named, 
brick  structures,  two  stories  high  and  contain- 
1-3  33 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

ing  thirty  rooms  each,  were  erected  at  the  cor- 
ners of  the  twenty-acre  plot  set  down  on  L'En- 
fant's  design  as  "  the  President's  Grounds," 
One,  known  as  the  Treasury  Department 
building,  occupied  a  portion  of  the  site  of  the 
present  Treasur}-  building.  The  ^^'ar  Office, 
as  the  other  building  was  called,  occupied  the 
site  of  the  central  portion  of  the  present  State, 
War,  and  Navy  buildings.  This  latter  building, 
enlarged  by  the  addition  of  a  third  story  and  a 
wing,  was  known  in  later  years  as  the  Navy 
Department  building,  being  removed  in  1871  to 
make  room  for  the  new  building. 

When  Washington  last  beheld  the  city  which 
bears  his  name,  shortly  before  his  death  in 
1799,  it  was  a  straggling  settlement  in  the 
woods,  almost  wholly  devoid  of  streets,  with 
thirty  or  forty  residences, — these,  for  the  most 
part,  small  and  uncomfortable, — and  an  un- 
finished Capitol  and  President's  House.  John 
Cotton  Smith,  then  a  member  of  Congress  from 
Connecticut,  has  left  a  lively  record  of  his  im- 
pressions of  the  Capitol  when  he  saw  it  for  the 
first  time,  a  few  months  after  ^\'ashington's 
death.     Smith  writes : 

"  Our  approach  to  the  city  was  accompanied 

34 


A   Capital   Built  to   Order 

with  sensations  not  easily  described.  One  wing 
of  the  Capitol  only  had  been  erected,  which, 
with  the  President's  House,  a  mile  distant  from 
it,  both  constructed  with  white  sandstone,  were 
shining  objects  in  dismal  contrast  with  the  scene 
around  them.  Instead  of  recognizing  the  ave- 
nues and  streets  portrayed  on  the  plan  of  the 
city,  not  one  was  visible,  unless  we  except  a 
road,  with  two  buildings  on  each  side  of  it, 
called  New  Jersey  Avenue.  The  Pennsylvania, 
leading,  as  laid  down  on  paper,  from  the  Capitol 
to  the  Presidential  mansion,  was  then  nearly  the 
whole  distance  a  deep  morass  covered  with  alder- 
bushes,  which  were  cut  through  the  intended 
avenue  during  the  ensuing  winter.  Between  the 
President's  House  and  Georgetown  a  block  of 
houses  had  been  erected,  which  bore  the  name 
of  the  Six  Buildings.  There  were  also  two  other 
blocks,  consisting  of  two  or  three  dwelling- 
houses,  in  different  directions,  and  now  and  then 
an  isolated  wooden  habitation ;  the  intervening 
spaces,  and,  indeed,  the  surface  of  the  city  gen- 
erally, being  covered  with  scrub-oak  bushes  on 
the  higher  grounds,  and  on  the  marshy  soil  either 
trees  or  some  sort  of  shrubbery.  Nor  was  the 
desolate  aspect  of  the  place  augmented  by  a  num- 
35 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

ber  of  unfinished  edifices  at  Greenleaf's  Point, 
and  on  an  eminence  a  short  distance  from  it, 
commenced  by  an  individual  whose  name  they 
bore,  but  the  state  of  whose  funds  compelled  him 
to  abandon  them,  not  only  unfinished,  but  in  a 
ruinous  condition." 

Indeed,  for  more  than  half  a  century  Wash- 
ington remained  a  sparse-built,  unsightly  city 
and  a  comfortless  place  of  residence.  Its  growth 
for  upward  of  a  generation  was  less  than  six 
hundred  a  year,  a  rate  of  increase  that  would 
now  put  to  shame  the  capital  of  a  single  Ameri- 
can State,  and  so  late  as  1840  De  Bacourt,  the 
French  minister,  could  write  that  Washington 
was  "  neither  a  city,  nor  a  village,  nor  the  coun- 
try," but  "  a  building-yard  placed  in  a  desolate 
spot,  wherein  living  is  unbearable."  From  1804 
to  1846,  and  especially  after  the  second  war  with 
England,  there  were  intermittent  efforts  in  Con- 
gress to  secure  the  removal  of  the  capital  to  some 
other  part  of  the  Union,  but  during  the  dec- 
ade in  which  the  latter  year  fell  a  general  re- 
newal of  the  public  buildings  was  projected  and 
begun  upon  a  scale  which  barred  from  the  minds 
of  all  reasonable  men  the  idea  that  they  would 
ever  be  abandoned ;  and  the  several  federal 
36 


I  Hi-;    V.  ASHIM.  liiN    MOM'ME.Nr    AS    OKHjINAl.LV    PLANNED 


A    Capital   Built   to   Order 

buildings  were  made  fitting  abodes  for  the  repre- 
sentatives of  a  great  and  enduring  government. 

The  result  of  this  activity  told  at  once  upon 
the  capital.  Its  annual  growth  trebled,  and  the 
opening  of  the  Civil  War  found  it,  with  its  sixty- 
two  thousand  population,  "  a  big,  sprawling  city, 
magnificent  in  some  parts,  dilapidated  and  dirty 
in  others."  The  struggle  for  the  Union  did 
many  things  for  Washington.  It  doubled  the 
population  and  brought  in  freedom  and  North- 
ern enterprise,  but  more  important  still,  by  a 
thousand  moving  and  glorious  associations,  it 
endeared  the  capital  to  the  people  of  the  whole 
country.  Then  came  its  remaking  by  Shepherd 
and  his  associates.  Now  it  is  a  truly  imperial 
city,  and  the  judgment  of  Washington  and  the 
genius  of  L'Enfant  have  been  amply  vindicated. 

Almost  within  sight  of  the  capital  which  he 
called  into  being  lie  the  remains  of  Washington, 
guarded  by  a  grateful  people  with  reverence  and 
care,  but  no  stone  marks  L'Enfant's  grave  at 
Bladensburg,  where  he  died  in  the  house  of  the 
only  friend  of  his  last  days.  None  is  needed, 
for  the  city  that  he  planned  remains  his  monu- 
ment and  epitaph. 


37 


CHAPTER    II 

THE    DAY    OF    SMALL    THINGS 

IMAGINE  the  laborious  transfer  of  the  pres- 
ent seat  of  government  to  some  point  in  the 
Middle  West,  this  in  contrast  with  the  removal 
of  the  capital  from  Philadelphia  to  the  banks  of 
the  Potomac,  and  a  fair  idea  will  be  gained  of  the 
wide  gulf  which  separates  the  republic  of  to-day 
from  that  of  a  hundred  years  ago.  May,  1800, 
the  time  of  the  transfer,  fell  in  a  day  of  small 
things,  and  two  or  three  sloops  of  modest  size, 
though  some  of  them  made  more  than  one  voy- 
age, sufficed  to  convey  to  Washington  the  ar- 
chives of  all  the  departments,  while  the  officials 
concerned  in  the  removal  numbered  seven  score, 
including  the  heads  of  bureaus  and  the  various 
clerks.  The  vessels  arrived  at  their  destination 
during  the  first  days  of  June,  and  one  can  readily 
picture  the  entire  population,  white  and  black, 
trooping  down  to  the  river  to  witness  the  dis- 
charge of  the  precious  cargoes.  Doubtless  Presi- 
dent Adams,  himself,  was  in  the  crowd,  for  he 
had  left  Philadelphia  on  May  27,  and,  travelling 
38 


The   Day   of  Small   Things 

by  way  of  Lancaster  and  York,  in  Pennsylvania, 
and  Frederick  and  Rockville,  in  Alaryland,  on 
June  3  lodged  at  the  Union  Tavern  in  George- 
town. His  visit,  however,  was  one  of  inspection 
only,  and  at  the  end  of  ten  days  he  left  for  his 
home  in  Ouincy,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was 
to  spend  the  summer. 

The  President's  lot  for  the  moment  was  a 
source  of  envy  to  the  Cabinet  and  other  officials 
whom  he  left  behind  him.  Work  on  and  about 
the  ne\y  seat  of  government  had  been  in  prog- 
ress for  the  better  part  of  a  decade,  but  noth- 
ing was  finished,  and,  contrasted  with  the  pleas- 
ant quarters  at  command  in  Philadelphia,  the 
crude  discomfort  of  Washington  bred  a  feeling 
of  surprise  and  disgust.  "  I  do  not  perceive," 
Secretary  Wolcott  wrote  to  his  wife,  "  how  the 
members  of  Congress  can  possibly  secure  lodg- 
ings, unless  they  will  consent  to  live  like  scholars 
in  a  college,  or  monks  in  a  monastery,  crowded 
ten  or  twenty  in  one  house,  and  utterly  se- 
cluded from  society.  ...  I  have  made  every 
exertion  to  secure  good  lodgings  near  the  office, 
but  shall  be  compelled  to  take  them  at  a  distance 
of  more  than  half  a  mile.  There  are,  in  fact, 
but  few  houses  in  any  one  place,  and  most  of 
39 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

them  small,  miserable  huts,  which  present  an 
awful  contrast  to  the  public  buildings.  The  peo- 
ple are  poor,  and,  as  far  as  I  can  judge,  they 
live  like  fishes,  by  eating  each  other." 

President  Adams  returned  to  Washington  in 
the  opening  days  of  November,  and  he  was 
joined  at  the  end  of  a  fortnight  by  his  wife, 
the  famous  Abigail  Adams.  "  I  arrived  here 
on  Sunday  last,"  runs  a  letter  from  Mrs.  Adams 
to  her  daughter,  one  of  the  first  written  in  the 
White  House,  "  and  without  meeting  any  acci- 
dent worth  noticing,  except  losing  ourselves 
when  we  left  Baltimore,  and  going  eight  or 
nine  miles  on  the  Frederick  road,  by  which 
means  we  were  obliged  to  go  the  other  eight 
through  the  woods,  where  we  wandered  for  two 
hours,  without  finding  a  guide  or  the  path. 
Fortunately,  a  straggling  black  came  up  with 
us,  and  we  engaged  him  as  a  guide  to  extricate 
us  out  of  our  difficulty;  but  woods  are  all  you 
see  from  Baltimore  until  you  reach  the  city, 
which  is  only  so  in  name.  Here  and  there  is  a 
small  cot,  without  a  glass  window,  interspersed 
among  the  forests,  through  which  you  travel 
miles  without  seeing  any  human  being.  In  the 
city  there  are  buildings  enpugh,  if  they  were 
40 


The   Day   of  Small  Things 

compact  and  finished,  to  accommodate  Congress 
and  those  attached  to  it,  but  as  they  are,  and 
scattered  as  they  are,  I  see  no  great  comfort  in 
them." 

How  meagre  was  the  degree  of  comfort  which 
they  afforded  is,  perhaps,  best  illustrated  by  an 
account  set  down  in  after-years  by  John  Cotton 
Smith,  a  member  of  the  House  from  Connecti- 
cut. "  Our  little  party,"  he  says,  "  took  lodging 
with  a  Mr.  Peacock,  in  one  of  the  houses  on 
the  New  Jersey  Avenue.  .  .  .  Speaker  Sedgwick 
was  allowed  a  room  to  himself;  the  rest  of  us 
in  pairs."  The  President  and  his  family  fared 
little  better.  "  To  assist  us  in  this  great  castle," 
writes  Mrs.  Adams  in  the  letter  already  quoted, 
"  and  render  less  attendance  necessary  bells  are 
wholly  wanting, — not  one  single  one  being  hung 
through  the  whole  house,  and  promises  are  all 
you  can  obtain.  If  they  will  put  me  up  some  bells 
and  let  me  have  wood  enough  to  keep  fires,  I  de- 
sign to  be  pleased.  .  .  .  But,  surrounded  with 
forests,  can  you  believe  that  wood  is  not  to  be 
had,  because  people  cannot  be  found  to  cut  and 
cart  it?  The  house  is  made  habitable,  but  there 
is  not  a  single  apartment  finished.  We  have  not 
the  least  fence,  yard,  or  other  convenience  w4th- 
41 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

out,  and  the  great,  unfinished  audience-room 
[now  known  as  the  East  Room]  I  make  a  dry- 
ing room  of  to  hang  up  the  clothes  in.  The 
principal  stairs  are  not  up,  and  will  not  be  this 
winter." 

So  difficult  was  it  to  secure  lodgings  near  the 
Capitol  that  many  of  the  members  of  Congress 
when  they  assembled  in  November  took  refuge 
in  Georgetown,  reached  only  after  a  toilsome 
journey  over  execrable  roads,  but  where,  as  par- 
tial compensation  for  the  social  poverty  and 
material  discomfort  of  the  infant  city,  there  was 
a  society  which  called  itself  eminently  polite. 
Indeed,  society  centred  for  years  in  Georgetown ; 
and  from  thence,  at  the  price  of  many  mishaps 
on  the  way,  came  most  of  the  guests  who  at- 
tended the  President's  levees  and  siate  dinners. 

Abigail  Adams  was  easily  the  most  conspicu- 
ous woman  of  her  day,  whether  by  position  or 
by  character;  in  person  distinguished  and  noble 
rather  than  beautiful.  The  social  rites  at  the 
White  House  were  conducted  with  great  for- 
mality during  her  brief  period  of  residence  there. 
Ceremonious  intercourse  was  demanded,  and  the 
rules  of  precedence  were  rigorously  obeyed. 
The  President  and  Mrs.  Adams  gave  their  first 
42 


The   Day  of  Small  Things 

public  reception  on  New  Year's  Day,  1801,  re- 
ceiving their  guests  in  the  second-story  apart- 
ment which  is  now  the  Hbrary  of  the  Executive 
Mansion.  The  rules  established  by  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington had  been  continued  by  her  successor,  and 
the  roster  of  Mrs.  Adams's  guests  included  only 
persons  of  official  station  and  established  repu- 
tation, or  who  came  with  suitable  introduction. 
Full  dress  was  exacted  from  all,  and  at  the  New 
Year's  reception  of  which  I  am  writing  Presi- 
dent Adams,  his  round,  ruddy  face  framed  by 
a  powdered  wig,  wore  a  black  velvet  suit,  white 
vest,  knee-breeches,  yellow  gloves,  silk  stockings, 
and  silver  knee-  and  shoe-buckles.  The  guests 
formed  in  a  circle,  when  the  President  went 
around  and  conversed  with  each  one,  after  which 
they  came  up,  bowed  and  retired. 

Few  unofficial  personages  frequented  Mrs. 
Adams's  drawing-rooms.  The  most  considera- 
ble of  these  were  Thomas  Law,  an  Englishman, 
and  Samuel  Harrison  Smith,  editor  of  the 
newly  born  National  Intelligencer.  Law,  a 
younger  brother  of  Lord  Ellenborough,  had 
formerly  held  high  office  in  British  Lidia,  and 
had  come  to  the  United  States,  so  the  story  ran, 
to  avoid  being  called  as  a  witness  against  War- 
43 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

ren  Hastings.  He  brought  with  him  half  a 
milhon  dollars  in  gold  and  letters  of  introduction 
to  Washington,  who  advised  him  to  invest  his 
money  in  real  estate  in  the  new  federal  city,  and 
when  this  advice  had  been  followed,  consented 
to  his  marriage  to  Annie  Custis,  the  grand- 
daughter of  Mrs.  Washington. 

The  investment  neither  of  Law's  affections 
nor  of  his  money  proved  satisfactory,  for  he 
quarrelled  with  his  wife,  and  his  real  estate, 
when  sold  after  his  death,  did  not  bring  one- 
quarter  of  what  he  had  paid  for  it.  A  very 
eccentric  man,  such  was  his  habitual  absence 
of  mind  that  on  asking,  one  day,  at  the  post- 
office  if  there  were  any  letters  for  him,  he  was 
obliged  to  confess  that  he  did  not  remember  his 
name ;  but  when,  a  moment  afterwards,  a  friend 
greeted  him  as  "  Mr.  Law,"  he  hurried  back, 
gave  the  address,  and  received  his  mail.  An 
inveterate  gambler.  Law  once  sent  a  man  to 
Paris  with  a  programme  for  breaking  the  banks 
of  the  gambling-houses  in  that  city;  but  the 
unlucky  agent,  instead  of  accomplishing  his 
errand,  lost  his  all,  and  was  compelled  to  work 
his  passage  home,  there  to  be  reproached  by  his 
principal  for  his  want  of  success. 
44 


The   Day   of  Small   Things 

Washington's  first  editor,  Samuel  Harrison 
Smith,  was  the  son  of  Jonathan  Smith,  a  wealthy- 
Philadelphia  merchant,  who  had  taken  an  active 
and  patriotic  part  in  the.  Revolution.  The 
younger  Smith,  a  graduate  of  the  University 
of  Pennsylvania,  first  attracted  attention  as  the 
editor  of  the  Nczv  World  of  Philadelphia, 
He  settled  in  Washington,  when  the  capital  was 
removed  to  the  Potomac,  and  on  October  31, 
1800,  issued  the  first  number  of  the  National 
Intelligencer,  which  became,  a  few  months  later, 
the  mouthpiece  of  the  administration  of  Thomas 
Jefferson.  The  credit  belongs  to  Smith  of  being 
the  first  American  editor  who  essayed  to  be  a 
moulder  of  public  opinion  as  well  as  a  chronicler 
of  facts.  "  Over  a  faithful  and  comprehensive 
detail  of  facts,"  he  wrote  in  his  first  issue,  "  will 
preside  a  spirit  of  investigation  and  desire  to 
enlighten  not  only  by  fact  but  by  reason.  The 
tendency  of  public  measures  and  the  conduct 
of  public  men  will  be  examined  with  candor 
and  truth."  This  modest  promise  marked  the 
birth  of  the  editorial  page,  the  beginning  of  a 
new  epoch  in  journalism,  and  the  ability  and 
intelligence  with  which  it  was  kept  made  the 
Intelligencer  a  tremendous  influence  in  the  re- 
45 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

public, — an  influence  which  is  yet  much  more 
than  a  memory.  About  the  same  time  that 
Smith  set  up  his  press  at  the  capital  the  Wash- 
ington Federalist  was  issued,  so  that  from  the 
first  the  two  parties  which  then  divided  public 
patronage  and  attention  had  their  newspaper 
organs  at  the  federal  city.  Smith  remained  edi- 
tor of  the  Intelligencer  until  1818,  when  he  con- 
nected himself  with  the  United  States  Bank  as 
manager  of  its  branch  at  Washington.  He  died 
in  1845. 

A  man  of  pith  and  vigor,  and  of  extraordinary 
sense  and  courage,  John  Adams  while  President 
surrounded  himself  with  men  of  like  qualities. 
Oliver  Wolcott,  his  Secretary  of  the  Treasury, 
was  a  shrewd  New  Englander  whom  half  a  life- 
time of  office-holding  had  not  robbed  of  inde- 
pendence of  thought  and  action.  Angered  by 
the  slanderers  of  his  political  opponents,  Wol- 
cott peremptorily  resigned  his  post  in  Novem- 
ber, 1800,  and  was  succeeded  by  Samuel  Dex- 
ter, who  previously  had  been  Secretary  of  War. 
Dexter,  one  of  the  really  great  constitutional 
lawyers  of  his  day,  remained  until  his  death  a 
familiar  figure  in  Washington,  appearing  every 
winter  in  important  cases  before  the  Supreme 
46 


The   Day  of  Small  Things 

Court.  Benjamin  Stoddert,  Secretary  of  the 
Navy,  had  been  a  dashing  captain  of  cavalry 
under  Washington,  and  later  a  successful  mer- 
chant and  ship-owner  in  Georgetown.  No  man 
held  in  fuller  measure  the  confidence  and  friend- 
ship of  Adams.  Joseph  Habersham,  Postmaster- 
General,  had  served  as  colonel  in  the  Conti- 
nental army,  and  remained  during  life  one  of 
the  foremost  men  in  Georgia.  Theophilus  Par- 
sons, Attorney-General,  was  a  profound  and 
learned  jurist,  no  less  famous  for  his  acrid  wit 
than  for  his  extraordinary  attainments  as  a 
scholar  and  lawyer. 

The  dominant,  masterful  figure  in  the  Cabinet 
of  Adams,  how^ever,  was  John  ]\Iarshall,  Secre- 
tary of  State.  Six  years  an  officer  of  foot  in  the 
patriot  army  and  leader  at  forty  of  the  Virginia 
bar,  it  was  only  at  the  urgent  instance  of  Wash- 
ington and  much  against  his  inclination  that 
Marshall  had  become  an  office-holder,  first  as 
envoy  to  France,  later  as  one  of  the  Federalist 
leaders  in  Congress,  and  finally  as  Secretary  of 
State  under  Adams.  This  office  he  filled  with 
ability  and  credit,  but  w^as  eagerly  awaiting  an 
early  return  to  private  life,  when  in  January, 
I  So  I,  Adams  named  him  chief  justice  of  the 
47 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

Supreme  Court,  which  office  he  held  until  his 
death,  thirty-four  years  later. 

An  agreeable  tradition  attaches  to  Marshall's 
appointment  as  chief  justice,  a  post  which  of 
all  men  then  living  he  was  the  one  best  fitted 
to  fill.  Chief  Justice  Oliver  Ellsworth,  broken 
in  health  by  w'inter  voyages  to  and  from  France, 
whence  he  had  been  sent  as  envoy,  resigned  his 
seat  on  the  bench  in  November,  1800.  The 
President,  after  offering  the  place  to  John  Jay, 
who  declined  it,  decided  to  confer  it  upon  his 
Secretary  of  State.  After  Adams  had  had  the 
matter  under  consideration  for  some  time,  Mar- 
shall chanced  one  day  to  suggest  a  new  name 
for  the  place,  when  the  President  promptly 
said, — 

"  You  need  not  give  yourself  further  trouble, 
for  I  have  made  up  my  mind  about  that  matter." 

"  I  am  happy  to  hear  it,"  said  Marshall. 
'*  May  I  ask  whom  you  have  fixed  upon?" 

"  Certainly,"  said  Adams.  "  I  have  concluded 
to  nominate  a  person  whom  it  may  surprise  you 
to  hear  mentioned.  It  is  a  Virginia  lawyer, 
a  plain  man  by  the  name  of  John  Marshall." 

President  Adams  spoke  truly  when  he  re- 
ferred  to   ]\Iarshall   as   "  a  plain   man."      Tall, 


The  Day  of  Small  Things 

gaunt,  awkward,  and  ahvays  ill-dressed,  the 
great  chief  justice  is,  perhaps,  best  described 
by  Judge  Story,  who  sat  upon  the  bench  with 
him  for  many  years.  "  His  body,"  writes  Story, 
"  seemed  as  ill  as  his  mind  was  well  compacted ; 
he  was  not  only  without  proportion,  but  of  mem- 
bers singularly  knit,  that  dangled  from  each 
other  and  looked  half  dislocated.  Habitually  he 
dressed  very  carelessly  in  the  garb,  but  I  would 
not  dare  to  say  in  the  mode,  of  the  last  cen- 
tury. You  would  have  thought  he  had  on  the 
old  clothes  of  a  former  generation,  not  made 
for  him  by  even  some  superannuated  tailor  of 
that  period,  but  gotten  from  the  wardrobe  of 
some  antiquated  slop-shop  of  second-hand  rai- 
ment. Shapeless  as  he  was,  he  would  probably 
have  defied  all  fitting  by  whatever  skill  of  the 
shears;  judge,  then,  how  the  vestments  of  an 
age  when  apparently  coats  and  breeches  were 
cut  for  nobody  in  particular,  and  waistcoats  were 
almost  dressing-gowns,  sat  upon  him." 

Story  wTites,  in  another  place,  that  Mar- 
shall's hair  w^as  black,  his  eyes  small  and  twink- 
ling, his  forehead  rather  low,  but  his  features 
generally  harmonious ;  and  he  speaks  of  his 
chief's  laugh,  "  too  hearty  for  an  intriguer,"  and 
1-4  49 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

of  his  good  temper  and  unwearied  patience  on 
the  bench  and  in  the  study.  Marshall's  uncouth 
garb  and  awkward  bearing  were,  in  truth,  but 
the  rough  covering  of  a  moral  and  mental  dia- 
mond of  the  first  water.  Gentle,  warm-hearted, 
and  simple  as  a  child,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
chosen  calling,  nature  had  endowed  him  with  an 
almost  marvellous  faculty  of  developing  a  sub- 
ject by  a  single  glance  of  his  mind,  and  detect- 
ing the  very  point  upon  which  every  controversy 
depended.  He  comprehended  the  whole  ground 
at  once,  and  wasted  no  time  on  unessential  fea- 
tures. Marshall  as  chief  justice  established  the 
power  of  the  Supreme  Court  as  it  is  recognized 
to-day  •  completed  the  work  of  the  Constitution 
in  welding  a  loose  league  of  States  into  a  com- 
pact nationality,  and  smothered,  for  many  years, 
the  dangerous  doctrine  of  State  sovereignty, 
which,  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  his  death, 
convulsed  the  country  with  civil  war. 

The  Supreme  Court,  when  Marshall  became 
its  head,  and,  indeed,  for  nearly  sixty  years 
afterwards,  held  its  sessions  in  the  low-vaulted 
room  in  the  basement  of  the  Capitol,  now  occu- 
pied as  a  law  library.  It  then  had  for  associate 
justices  Samuel  Chase,  William  Cushing,  Alfred 
50 


The   Day   of  Small  Things 

Moore,  William  Paterson,  and  Bushrod  Wash- 
ington. Justice  Chase  had  been  a  member  of 
the  Continental  Congress,  and  had  signed  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  Later  he  had  been 
chief  justice  of  the  Baltimore  criminal  court, 
and  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  had  displayed 
the  vigor,  irascibility,  and  readiness  to  express 
his  political  opinions,  even  on  the  bench,  which 
a  dozen  years  later  were  to  lead  to  his  impeach- 
ment by  the  House  of  Representatives.  Two 
popular  men,  arrested  as  leaders  of  a  riot  in 
Baltimore,  refused  to  give  bail,  and  the  sheriff 
feared  a  rescue  should  he  take  them  to  prison. 
"  Call  out  the  posse  comitatus,  then,"  said  Judge 
Chase.  "  Sir,  no  one  will  serve,"  replied  the 
sheriff.  "  Summon  me,  then ;  I  will  be  the  posse 
comitatus;  I  will  take  them  to  jail."  And  the 
judge  kept  his  word. 

Justice  Cushing  was  descended  from  a  family 
of  jurists, — his  father  had  presided  over  the 
trial  of  British  soldiers  for  the  Boston  massacre 
of  1770, — and  prior  to  taking  his  seat  on  the 
supreme  bench  had  been  the  first  chief  justice 
of  Massachusetts  under  the  State  constitution. 
Justice  Moore  was  also  a  judge's  son,  and  be- 
fore becoming  a  lawyer  had  been  a  captain  of 
51 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

North  Carolina  dragoons  during  the  Revohi- 
tion.  Justice  Paterson  had  been  brought  from 
Ireland  by  his  parents  when  a  child  in  arms, 
and,  reared  in  New  Jersey,  had  been  a  member 
both  of  the  Continental  Congress  and  of  the 
convention  which  framed  the  Constitution.  Af- 
terwards he  had  been  United  States  Senator 
from  and  governor  of  New  Jersey,  Washington 
naming  him  as  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court 
in  T793. 

The  most  striking  figure  among  Marshall's 
associates,  however,  was  Justice  Washington. 
The  favorite  nephew^  of  the  first  President, 
appointed  by  Adams  in  1798,  he  sat  on  the 
supreme  bench  for  thirty-one  years,  and  was  the 
subject  of  many  a  piquant  anecdote  long  cur- 
rent at  the  capital.  Small  and  thin,  and  de- 
prived by  excessive  study  of  the  sight  of  one 
e3^e,  he  was  a  rigid  disciplinarian  and  a  great 
stickler  for  etiquette.  But  he  had  also  the  saving 
gift  of  humor.  One  day,  as  the  justices  were  dis- 
robing, after  having  heard  Senator  Isham  Tal- 
bot, of  Kentucky,  argue  a  case  with  extraordi- 
nary rapidity  of  utterance,  Washington  dryly 
remarked,  "  Well,  a  person  of  moderate  wishes 
could  hardly  desire  to  live  longer  than  the  time 
52 


The   Day   of  Small  Things 

it  would  take  Brother  Talbot  to  repeat  moder- 
ately that  four  hours'  speech  we  have  just 
heard." 

Congress  met  for  the  first  time  in  Washington 
on  November  17,  1800,  and  five  days  later  Presi- 
dent Adams,  having  driven  to  the  Capitol  in  his 
coach  of  state,  appeared  before  the  two  houses 
in  joint  session,  and  made  the  customary  "  an- 
nual speech."  Both  House  and  Senate,  the  lat- 
ter then  a  leisurely  body,  given  to  short  hours 
and  frequent  adjournments,  found  their  origi- 
nal meeting-places  ill-constructed  and  uncom- 
fortable, but  after  the  rebuilding  of  the  Capitol 
in  181 7  they  wevQ  amply  accommodated  in  fine 
halls.  The  present  hall  of  the  House  was  occu- 
pied on  December  16,  1857,  ^^'^^  ^^^  present 
Senate  chamber  on  January  4,  1859,  since  which 
time  the  old  Senate  chamber  has  been  the  home 
of  the  Supreme  Court. 

Here  and  there  in  the  memoirs  and  diaries 
of  a  hundred  years  ago  one  catches  glimpses  of 
curious  legislative  customs  long  since  abandoned 
and  now  well-nigh  forgotten.  ]\Iembers  of  the 
House  sat  with  covered  heads,  and  the  practice 
was  not  discontinued  until  1828.  IMany  of  the 
legislators  being  habitual  snuff-takers,  urns 
53 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

filled  with  a  choice  quality  of  the  article  were 
placed  in  each  house,  and  officials  were  charged 
with  the  duty  of  keeping  them  replenished. 
Until  steel  pens  came  into  use  there  was  an 
official  pen-maker  in  each  house,  whose  duty  it 
was  to  mend  the  goose-quills  of  the  members; 
and  there  were  also  official  sealers,  who  were 
intrusted  with  the  sealing  of  letters  and  packages 
with  red  wax. 

The  Senators  and  Representatives  of  1800 
were,  for  the  most  part,  a  beardless  but  bewigged 
and  bepowdered  lot.  The  barber  and  hair- 
dresser was,  therefore,  an  important  individual, 
and  many  of  the  shops  which  soon  began  to  dot 
Pennsylvania  Avenue  were  devoted  to  the  prac- 
tice of  his  art, — each  a  morning  rendezvous  for 
persons  holding  congenial  political  views.  In 
large  cupboards  with  glass  doors  there  were 
freshly  dressed  wigs  in  readiness  for  the  daily 
visit  of  their  owners,  who  would  exchange  them 
for  others  which  needed  the  comb  and  hair- 
powder.  "  When  every  high-backed  chair  was 
occupied  by  some  one  in  the  hands  of  a  barber, 
and  the  seats  around  the  shop  were  filled  with 
patient  waiters,  new-comers  were  greeted  with 
cordial  assurances  that  their  turns  would  soon 
54 


The    Day   of  Small   Things 

come,  while  the  freshest  bits  of  gossip  were 
narrated  to  secure  good  humor." 

The  Senate  in  1800  contained  among  its 
thirty-two  members  a  generous  sprinkling  of 
Revolutionary  veterans.  Thomas  Jefferson, 
who  as  Vice-President  presided  over  its  deliber- 
ations, had  wTitten  the  Declaration  of  Inde- 
pendence, and  borne  a  weighty  part  in  the  events 
that  followed.  John  Langdon,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, now  near  the  close  of  his  second  and  last 
term,  had  fought  with  Sullivan,  and  had  pledged 
his  last  dollar  to  equip  the  brigade  with  which 
John  Stark  won  the  battle  of  Bennington.  Sam- 
uel Livermore,  Langdon's  colleague,  had  been 
a  useful  member  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
James  Hillhouse,  of  Connecticut,  for  ten  years 
to  come  one  of  the  most  forceful  of  the  Feder- 
alist leaders  in  the  Senate,  had  served  as  a  cap- 
tain of  foot-guards  against  the  British  general 
Tryon. 

Gouverneur  Morris,  of  New  York,  who,  so 
his  friends  declared,  bore  a  close  physical  resem- 
blance to  Washington,  had  been  a  leader  in 
the  Continental  Congress.  John  Armstrong, 
Morris's  colleague,  had  doffed  his  student's 
gown  to  put  on  a  patriot  uniform,  and  had  car- 
55 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

ried  from  Princeton  battle-field  the  body  of  the 
dying  Mercer.  Another  youthful  hero  was  Jon- 
athan Trumbull,  of  New  Jersey,  who  had  en- 
tered service  in  1776,  a  stripling  of  sixteen,  to 
be  mustered  out  seven  years  later  with  a  cap- 
tain's commission  and  a  dozen  campaigns  to  his 
credit.  Henry  Lattimer,  of  Delaware,  had  been 
a  surgeon  of  the  flying  hospital,  w^hile  brave 
and  brainful  John  Eager  Howard,  of  Maryland, 
the  foremost  member  of  his  family  in  this  coun- 
try, had  participated  in  almost  all  of  the  impor- 
tant campaigns  of  the  Revolution,  and  at  the 
battle  of  Cowpens  had  led  the  desperate  bayonet 
charge  which  assured  a  patriot  victory. 

Stevens  T.  Mason,  Virginia's  witty  and  sar- 
castic Senator,  had  served  as  a  volunteer  aide 
to  Washington  at  Yorktown.  Wilson  Gary 
Nicholas,  of  the  same  State,  stanch  friend  of 
Jefferson  and  worthy  member  of  a  family 
"  powerful  in  talents,  in  probity,  and  in  their 
numbers  and  union,"  had  commanded  Wash- 
ington's lifeguard  from  the  opening  of  the 
Revolution  until  its  close.  Jesse  Franklin,  of 
North  Carolina,  had  served  as  a  major  under 
Greene;  and  Gharles  Pinckney,  of  South  Garo- 
lina,  one  of  Jefferson's  most  active  lieuten- 
56 


The   Day   of  Small  Things 

ants,  had  been  taken  prisoner  at  the  capture  of 
Charleston,  remaining  such  until  the  close  of  the 
war.  Pinckney's  fellow,  Jacob  Read,  sometime 
major  of  South  Carolina  volunteers,  also  had 
been  long  a  prisoner  in  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

Abraham  Baldwin,  a  transplanted  New  Eng- 
lander  who  was  to  represent  Georgia  in  the 
Senate  until  his  death,  had  been  a  chaplain  under 
Greene,  and  the  latter's  friend  and  confidant. 
John  Brown,  a  bronzed  and  wiry  Indian  fighter, 
and  Kentucky's  first  Senator,  had  left  school  to 
become  a  member  of  Washington's  army  in  the 
darkest  hour  of  the  Revolution,  while  eloquent 
and  masterful  Humphrey  IMarshall,  of  the  same 
State,  had  fought  his  way  from  the  ranks  to  a 
captain's  commission.  And  finally,  there  was 
Joseph  Anderson,  of  Tennessee,  who  had  been 
a  captain  of  the  New  Jersey  line,  and  who,  after 
eighteen  years  in  the  Senate,  was  to  end  his 
days  as  First  Comptroller  of  the  Treasury. 

Three  other  Senators  of  the  period  demand  a 
word.  Jonathan  Mason,  of  Massachusetts,  had 
been  a  student  in  the  law-office  of  John  Adams, 
and  was  now  his  tutor's  foremost  defender  in 
the  Senate.  Pennsylvania's  senior  Senator  was 
James  Ross,  one  of  the  most  amply  endowed  but 
57 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

least  remembered  men  of  his  time.  The  other 
was  rich  and  stately  William  Bingham,  husband 
of  the  famous  beauty,  Anne  Willing,  and  father 
of  a  not  less  beautiful  daughter,  who  was  to 
become  in  after-years  wife  of  the  founder  of  the 
great  banking  house  of  Baring. 

Not  less  noteworthy  than  their  fellows  of  the 
Senate  were  the  Revolutionary  veterans  of  the 
House.  Speaker  Theodore  Sedgwick,  digni- 
fied and  elegant,  had  upheld  the  patriot  cause 
both  in  the  field  and  in  the  halls  of  Congress. 
Nathaniel  Macon,  of  North  Carolina,  for  more 
than  a  score  of  years  the  most  influential  mem- 
ber on  the  floor  of  the  House,  described  by  John 
Randolph  in  his  will  as  "  the  wisest,  purest, 
and  best  man"  he  had  ever  known,  had  refused 
to  accept  a  cent  of  pay  for  serving  during  the 
entire  war;  nor,  though  high  commissions  had 
been  frequently  offered  him,  could  he  be  induced 
to  serve  an}^where  save  in  the  ranks. 

More  conspicuous  still,  by  reason  of  their 
brilliant  work  in  the  field,  were  the  venerable 
General  Thomas  Sumter,  of  South  Carolina, 
now  a  zealous  Federalist  and  soon  to  become  a 
Senator  from  his  State,  and  General  Peter 
Muhlenberg,  of  Pennsylvania.  Muhlenberg, 
58 


The   Day   of  Small  Things 

whose  services  in  the  House  dated  from  the 
adoption  of  the  Constitution,  had  been  a  clergy- 
man in  Virginia  when  the  Revolution  opened, 
and  he  was  induced  by  Washington  to  accept  a 
colonel's  commission.  Members  of  his  congre- 
gation never  forgot  his  last  sermon.  "  There  is 
a  time,"  he  told  them,  "  for  all  things, — a  time 
to  preach  and  a  time  to  pray;  but  there  is  also 
a  time  to  fight,  and  that  time  has  now  come." 
Then,  pronouncing  the  benediction,  he  threw  off 
his  gown,  displaying  his  colonel's  uniform,  and, 
striding  to  the  door,  ordered  the  drums  to  beat 
for  recruits.  A  priest  of  this  sort  was  sure  to 
make  a  good  soldier,  and,  by  continuous  hard 
fighting,  Muhlenberg  rose  before  the  war's  close 
to  the  rank  of  major-general. 

Joseph  B.  Varnum,  of  Massachusetts,  "  a 
man  of  uncommon  talents  and  most  brilliant 
eloquence,"  had  been  among  the  first  in  his 
State  to  take  the  field  when  the  Revolution 
opened.  John  Davenport,  for  eighteen  years  a 
member  of  the  House  from  Connecticut,  had 
been  a  major  in  the  Continental  army.  Philip 
Van  Cortlandt,  as  colonel  of  the  Second  New 
York  Regiment,  had  proved  his  bravery  in  a 
score  of  battles.  From  Pennsylvania  came 
59 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

James  Smilie,  long  chairman  of  the  Committee 
on  Foreign  Relations,  who  had  served  during 
the  war  in  both  military  and  civil  capacities; 
and  homespun  Joseph  Hiester,  one  of  the  sur- 
viving heroes  of  the  dreaded  "  Jersey"  prison- 
ship,  who,  as  a  colonel  in  the  Pennsylvania  line, 
had  fought  at  Long  Island  and  Germantown 
with  all  the  stubborn  valor  of  his  Dutch  an- 
cestors. 

Virginia  was  represented  by  Colonel  Levin 
Powell,  Washington's  old  comrade  in  arms,  and 
by  Benjamin  Taliaferro,  a  grizzled  veteran  of 
Morgan's  rifle  corps,  who  was  to  serve  in  Con- 
gress for  nearly  twoscore  years.  Robert  Wil- 
liams, of  North  Carolina,  the  son  of  a  redoubt- 
able partisan  leader,  had  served  as  adjutant- 
general  of  his  State  during  the  war.  Thomas 
Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina,  had  been  aide-de- 
camp to  Lincoln  and  D'Estaing.  And  Robert 
Goodloe  Harper,  of  the  same  State,  just  now 
the  ardent  and  soon  to  become  the  successful 
suitor  of  the  daughter  of  Charles  Carroll  of  Car- 
rollton,  could  tell  of  much  hard  fighting  and 
hard  riding  when  a  fifteen-year-old  trooper 
under  Greene. 

These  were  not  the  only  men  of  mark  in  the 
60 


The   Day   of  Small   Things 

House.  Winning  and  courtly  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  gifted  son  of  a  gifted  sire,  then  had  few 
equals  among  orators.  Samuel  W.  Dana,  of 
Connecticut,  had  lately  begun  a  period  of  con- 
gressional service  which,  first  in  the  House  and 
later  in  the  Senate,  was  to  cover  a  round  quarter- 
century.  Connecticut  had  not  less  capable  Rep- 
resentatives in  Roger  Griswold,  a  Federalist 
of  the  Federalists,  the  peer  in  eloquence  and 
political  sagacity  of  the  strongest  men  of  his 
time,  and  in  John  Cotton  Smith,  a  lawyer  and 
orator  of  no  mean  rank,  beloved  by  his  associ- 
ates and  respected  by  his  foes.  From  New  York 
came  still  youthful  Edward  Livingston,  and 
from  New  Jersey  stout  Aaron  Kitchell,  whose 
broad  shoulders  and  brawny  arms  were  whole- 
some reminders  of  early  labor  at  the  forge  and 
anvil. 

Pennsylvania  was  represented  by  Robert 
Wain,  Philadelphia's  Quaker  merchant  prince; 
by  sturdy  Andrew  Gregg,  later  to  become  a 
member  of  the  Senate;  and  by  Albert  Gallatin, 
Swiss  by  birth  but  American  by  choice  and 
adoption,  whose  strength  in  debate  and  wisdom 
in  council  were  admitted  by  friend  and  foe. 
Delaware's  Representative  was  James  A.  Bay- 
6i 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

ard,  whose  ability  had  made  him  at  the  early  age 
of  thirty-four  the  leader  of  the  Federalists  in  the 
House.  South  Carolina  sent  the  son  and  name- 
sake of  patriot  John  Rutledge,  and  prominent 
in  the  Virginia  delegation  was  Littleton  Taze- 
well, who,  though  still  under  thirty,  had  already 
given  proof  of  the  impracticability  and  the  ex- 
traordinary talfent  which  were  to  color  every 
stage  of  his  public  career. 

Virginia  also  furnished  one  of  the  two  mem- 
bers of  the  House  most  talked  about  by  their 
fellows.  These  were  John  Randolph  and  ]\Iat- 
thew  Lyon.  Randolph,  now  in  the  first  year  of 
his  quarter-century  of  Congressional  service,  had 
already,  by  his  poetic  eloquence,  his  absolute 
honesty,  and  his  scathing  wit,  made  himself  the 
Republican  leader  of  the  House,  a  title  confirmed 
a  few  months  later  by  his  appointment  as  chair- 
man of  the  Committee  on  Ways  and  ]\Ieans. 
To  member  and  visitor  he  presented  an  unmis- 
takable figure  and  one  not  easily  forgotten. 
Above  six  feet  in  height,  with  long'  limbs,  an 
ill-proportioned  body,  and  a  small,  round  head, 
his  descent  from  the  Indian  maiden  Pocahontas 
appeared  in  the  shock  of  coarse  black  hair,  which 
he  wore  long,  parted  in  the  middle,  and  combed 
62 


The  Day  of  Small  Things 

down  on  either  side  of  his  sallow  face.  His 
small  black  eyes,  always  expressive  in  their  rapid 
glances,  became  doubly  so  in  debate,  and  when 
fully  aroused  his  "  thin,  high-toned  voice  rang 
through  the  chamber  of  the  House  like  the  shrill 
scream  of  an  angry  vixen." 

Few  men  dared  oppose  Randolph  in  debate. 
One  of  these  was  Alatthew  Lyon,  the  hero  of 
a  career  possible  only  in  eighteenth  century 
America.  This  exceptional  man  had  arrived  in 
Boston  forty  years  before,  a  truant  Irish  lad, 
who  had  agreed  as  the  price  of  his  passage  to 
become  a  "  redemptioner."  His  first  master  sold 
his  indentures,  the  consideration  being  a  yoke  of 
oxen.  The  young  Celt  never  forgot  the  pit 
whence  he  was  digged,  but  instead  gloried  in 
his  humble  origin,  and  "  By  the  bulls  that  re- 
damed  me"  was  his  favorite  expression  in  the 
days  of  his  prosperity.  His  servitude  ended, 
Lyon  settled  in  Vermont,  fought  under  Ethan 
Allen  at  Ticonderoga,  became  a  business  man 
of  the  true  pioneer  type,  and  in  1797  was  sent 
to  Congress  as  an  anti-Federalist,  serving  four 
years. 

All  his  life  finding  delight  in  a  controversy 
for  its  own  sake,  Lyon  had  not  been  long  in  the 
63 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

House  before  he  had  bred  a  dozen  quarrels; 
and  when,  under  strong  provocation,  he  spat 
in  the  face  of  Roger  Griswold,  a  motion  to  expel 
him  lacked  but  a  fraction  of  the  needed  two- 
thirds  vote.  Afterwards,  Lyon  having  been 
jailed  for  violating  the  sedition  law,  the  Feder- 
alists again  tried  to  expel  him,  and  again  almost 
succeeded.  But  when,  in  1803,  he  came  to  Con- 
gress from  Kentucky,  whence  he  had  meanwhile 
removed,  he  found  his  old  enemies  in  eclipse, 
and  himself  a  hero  of  the  Republican  majority. 
Candid  members  of  both  parties  now  perceived 
that  he  was  a  man  of  sense,  open  to  conviction, 
and  well  able  to  give  his  quota  of  sound  advice. 
He  served  in  the  House  until  181 1,  when  he 
declined  further  re-election. 

Lyon's  strongest  claim  to  remembrance  lies 
in  the  part  he  played  in  Jefferson's  first  election 
to  the  Presidency.  Early  in  1800  Adams  was 
again  made  the  candidate  of  the  Federalists, 
with  Thomas  Pinckney  as  his  running  mate, 
while  a  caucus  of  the  Republican  members  of 
Congress  nominated  Jefferson  for  President  and 
Aaron  Burr  for  Vice-President.  The  campaign 
which  followed  these  nominations  was  an  acri- 
monious and  exciting  one.  After  its  close,  for 
64 


The   Day  of  Small  Things 

weeks  the  result  was  in  doubt.  Even  when  it 
was  found  that  the  RepubHcans  had  won,  there 
arose  a  sudden  and  whohy  unlooked-for  di- 
lemma. Jefferson  and  Burr,  having  been  voted 
for  as  nominated,  for  President  and  Vice-Presi- 
dent, had  received  seventy-three  votes  each  in 
the  Electoral  College,  and  the  constitutfonal 
provision  conferring  the  Presidency  on  the  per- 
son receiving  the  highest  number  of  electoral 
votes  still  remained  in  force.  The  Electoral 
College  having  failed  to  make  choice,  the  elec- 
tion, amid  unparalleled  excitement,  was  thrown 
into  the  House  of  Representatives,  where  at  the 
outset  Burr's  chances  of  success  seemed  as  good 
as  those  of  Jefferson. 

At  least.  Burr  so  counted  them,  and  he  pushed 
his  schemes  with  such  adroitness  and  audacity 
that  before  the  House  began  to  ballot,  on  Feb- 
ruary II,  1801,  the  friends  of  Jefferson  threat- 
ened armed  intervention  in  his  behalf.  On  the 
first  ballot  eight  States  voted  for  Jefferson  and 
six  for  Burr.  Vermont  and  Maryland  cast  no 
vote,  half  of  the  Representatives  of  these  States 
being  Federalists.  The  balloting  continued  for 
a  week  with  no  change  in  the  result.  Then 
Matthew  Lyon  induced  his  Federalist  colleague 
1.-5  65 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

from  Vermont,  who  had  previously  voted  for 
Burr,  to  cast  a  blank  ballot,  thus  assuring  the 
vote  of  that  State  to  Jefferson.  The  Federalist 
members  from  Delaware  and  Maryland,  acting 
upon  the  advice  of  Alexander  Hamilton,  who 
opposed  Burr  as  the  greater  of  two  evils,  also 
agreed  to  put  in  blanks,  and  on  the  thirty-sixth 
ballot  Jefferson  secured  the  votes  of  ten  States 
and  with  them  the  Presidency. 

Burr  charged  his  defeat  to  Hamilton,  and  in 
due  time  the  latter  answered  with  his  life  for 
his  part  in  the  election.  A  less  tragic  sequel  of 
the  contest  was  the  passage  by  Congress  of  a 
constitutional  amendment  providing  that  the 
electors  shall  designate  their  ballots  as  for  Presi- 
dent and  Vice-President,  a  change  making  im- 
possible a  repetition  of  the  trouble  of  1801. 


66 


CHAPTER    III 

THE    JEFFERSONIAN    EPOCH 

THOSE  who  gathered  in  Washington, 
March  4,  1801,  to  witness  the  inaugura- 
tion of  Thomas  Jefferson  beheld  in  the  new 
President  a  tall,  spare,  round-shouldered,  sandy- 
haired  man  of  fifty-seven,  whose  long  and  rather 
narrow  face  was  saved  from  commonplaceness 
by  expressive  gray  eyes  and  a  well-carved  nose 
and  chin.  They  also  saw  him  take  the  first  step 
towards  what  he  called  simplicity,  but  what  his 
opponents  termed  vulgarity,  for  he  walked  from 
his  lodgings  to  the  Capitol  attended  only  by  a 
few  friends.  He  read  his  inaugural  address  from 
the  chair  of  the  Senate,  and  was  then  sworn  into 
office  by  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  after  which  he 
returned  to  his  lodgings  as  he  had  come, — on 
foot. 

A  fortnight  later  Jefferson  took  possession  of 
the  White  House,  where  he  at  once  set  upon  foot 
a  profuse,  even  prodigal,  hospitality  which  at 

last  left  him  deeply  in  debt.     From  the  first  he 
67 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

kept  open  house,  had  eleven  servants  (slaves) 
from  his  plantation,  besides  a  French  cook  and 
steward  and  an  Irish  coachman,  and  his  long 
dining-room  was  always  crowded  with  guests, 
who  sat  down  at  four  and  talked  until  midnight. 
One  hears  little  of  women  among  White  House 
visitors  at  this  period,  and,  truth  is,  it  was  essen- 
tially a  bachelor  establishment  as  long  as  Jefifer- 
son  remained  its  occupant.  He  had  been  many 
years  a  widower  when  he  became  President. 
His  eldest  daughter,  Martha,  wife  of  her  cousin, 
Thomas  Mann  Randolph,  took  charge  of  his 
household  during  two  seasons  only,  preferring 
the  quiet  of  her  Virginia  home  to  the  mansion 
of  the  President.  Mrs.  Madison,  wife  of  the 
Secretary  of  State,  in  Mrs.  Randolph's  absence, 
was  the  hostess  on  all  state  occasions  during 
Jefferson's  Administrations.  These  were  not  at 
all  numerous.  The  first  Democratic  President, 
faithful  to  the  notions  of  equality  of  which  he 
was  the  most  conspicuous  champion,  undertook 
to  make  the  etiquette  of  his  surroundings  as 
simple  as  possible.  In  so  doing  he  roughly 
trampled  upon  the  courtly  customs  established 
by  Washington  and  continued  by  Adams,  abol- 
ished levees,  and  held  but  two  receptions  a  year, 

68 


The  Jeffersonian  Epoch 

— on  Now  Year's  Day  and  Fourth  of  July. 
The  doors  were  then  thrown  open  to  all 

Persons  at  other  times  were  privileged  to  call 
as  they  pleased,  and  the  President  was  acces- 
sible to  any  one  at  any  hour.  Furthermore,  he 
drew  up  a  series  of  social  rules,  based  on  the 
idea  that  "  when  brought  together  in  society 
all  are  perfectly  equal,  whether  foreign  or  do- 
mestic, titled  or  untitled,  in  or  out  of  office." 
In  order  to  prevent  the  growth  of  precedence  out 
of  courtesy,  he  insisted  that  the  members, of  his 
Cabinet  should  practise  this  social  code  at  their 
own  houses,  and  recommended  it  to  all  as  an 
adherence  "  to  the  ancient  usages  of  the  coun- 
try." 

These  changes  were  criticised  as  those  of  a 
demagogue,  and,  along  with  the  careless  dress 
of  the  President, — a  point  in  which  he  showed 
an  almost  studied  antagonism  to  the  scrupulous 
proprieties  of  Washington, — caused  frequent 
differences  with  members  of  the  diplomatic 
corps.  When  Merry,  the  newly  appointed  Brit- 
ish minister,  went  in  official  costume  to  be  pre- 
sented to  the  President  at  an  hour  previously 
appointed,  he  found  himself,  by  his  own  narra- 
tive, "  introduced  to  a  man  as  the  President  of 
69 


Waehington :    The  Federal   City 

the  United  States  not  merely  in  an  undress,  but 
actually  standing  in  slippers  down  at  the  heels, 
and  pantaloons,  coat,  and  underclothes  indica- 
tive of  utter  slovenliness  and  indifference  to  ap- 
pearance, but  in  a  state  of  negligence  actually 
studied." 

The  minister  went  away  with  the  very  natural 
conviction  that  the  whole  scene  was  prepared 
and  intended  as  an  insult,  not  to  himself,  but 
to  the  sovereign  whom  he  represented,  and  when, 
a  little  later,  Burr  conceived  his  dream  of  an 
empire  in  the  Southwest,  Merry,  seconded  by 
Irujo,  the  Spanish  minister,  did  not  hesitate 
to  enter  into  negotiations  with  him  contem- 
plating the  aid  of  England  and  Spain  in  bring- 
ing about  the  separation  of  Louisiana  from  the 
Union.  But  England  did  not  approve  of  her 
minister's  plottings,  and  to  his  surprise  recalled 
him.  Irujo,  who  had  married  an  American 
wife,  also  came  to  grief,  being  summarily  dis- 
missed for  abundant  cause.  This  was  not  his 
intrigue  with  Burr,  but  an  attempt  to  bribe  a 
Philadelphia  newspaper  to  print  an  article  criti- 
cising the  Administration  and  taking  the  Span- 
ish side  of  a  boundary  question  then  in  dispute 
between  our  government  and  Spain. 
70 


The  Jeffersonian   Epoch 

Madison,  as  Jefferson's  Secretary  of  State, 
demanded  the  recall  of  the  Spanish  minister; 
and  upon  direct  appeal  from  Madrid  it  was 
arranged  that  Irujo  should  be  allowed  to  de- 
part quietly,  as  if  he  were  going  home.  The 
offending  minister,  however,  took  advantage  of 
this  lenity  to  remain  while  the  Spanish  question 
was  being  considered  by  Congress,  and,  when 
Madison  notified  him  that  his  presence  was  dis- 
pleasing to  the  President,  impudently  replied 
that  he  would  stay  in  Washington  as  long  as  he 
pleased.  Thereupon  John  Ouincy  Adams,  then 
a  member  of  the  Senate,  introduced  a  bill  em- 
powering the  President  to  arrest  and  convey  out 
of  the  country  any  minister  who  remained  after 
his  recall  and  after  reasonable  notice  to  leave. 
This  brought  from  the  Spanish  government  a 
peremptory  demand  on  Irujo  to  return,  which  he 
reluctantly  and  much  against  his  will  obeyed. 

Another  member  of  the  then  small,  but  to 
Jefferson  often  troublesome,  diplomatic  corps 
was  Turreau  de  Garrambouville,  who  had 
fought  under  Rochambeau  for  American  in- 
dependence, but  of  whom  Mrs.  Madison  wrote, 
"  I  have  heard  sad  things  of  Turreau,  that  he 
whips  his  wife  and  abuses  her  dreadfully," — 
71 


Washington  :   The  Federal   City 

the  wife  who  was  a  servant  in  the  jail  where 
he  was  confined  during  the  French  revohition, 
who  rubbed  out  the  red  mark  on  his  door  placed 
there  by  the  guillotiners,  and  whom  he  married 
because  she  had  thus  saved  his  life.  Turreau 
was  here  from  1804  until  181 1  as  Napoleon's 
minister,  and  in  the  end  proved  as  ungrateful 
to  those  who  had  given  him  kindly  welcome  as 
he  had  previously  proved  to  his  wife,  for  after 
his  return  to  France  he  published  a  bitter  criti- 
cism of  the  government  of  the  United  States, 
which  he  was  frank  enough  to  confess  he  had 
studied  "  for  eight  years  without  being  able  to 
comprehend." 

Merry,  Irujo,  Turreau,  and  the  other  min- 
isters at  that  time  credited  to  the  Washington 
government  had  their  residences  on  the  heights 
of  Georgetown,  then  a  homelike  burgh  of  six 
thousand  inhabitants,  while  as  yet  "  Washing- 
ton was  but  a  huddle  of  booths,  taverns,  and 
gambling-houses  set  around  about  a  political 
race-course."  The  town's  social  attractions 
were  of  no  mean  order.  "  No  lack  of  hand- 
some ladies,"  writes  Sir  Augustus  Foster,  sec- 
retary of  the  British  legation  in  1805,  "  for  the 
balls  at  Georgetown,  drawn  from  the  families 
72 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

of  the  members  and  others  who  come  for  the 
season.  I  never  saw  prettier,  more  lovely,  or 
better-tempered  girls  anywhere, — mostly  from 
Virginia  and  Maryland.  As  there  are  but  few 
of  them,  however,  in  proportion  to  the  great 
number  of  men  who  frequent  places  of  amuse- 
ment, it  is  one  of  the  most  marrying  places  on 
the  whole  continent." 

Another  social  chronicler  of  the  period  re- 
grets to  have  observed  among  the  belles  of 
Georgetown  "  a  fondness  f^r  the  bewitching 
torment  of  play,  which,  when  indulged  in  for 
motives  of  gain,  and  the  violence  of  hope,  fear, 
and  even  baser  passions,  changes  the  very  fea- 
tures, in  effacing  that  divine  impression  of  the 
female  countenance  which  is  so  often  irresist- 
ible." The  female  gamester  went  out  at  last 
with  face-powder  and  the  ubiquitous  umbrella, 
but  with  the  men  private  play  at  social  enter- 
tainments remained  eminently  fashionable  for 
a  dozen  Administrations. 

"  How  it  must  distress  you  to  think  that  your 
brilliant  husband  gambles,"  cooed  a  Boston  ma- 
tron to  Mrs.  Clay,  when,  at  a  party  given  by 
the  wife  of  a  Cabinet  minister,  she  came  upon 
^Ir.  Clay  and  others  playing  cards. 
73 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

"  Xot   at   all.    my   dear."    was   the   guileless 
answer;    "he  always  wins." 

In  and  out  among  the  drawing-rooms  of 
Georgetown  in  the  first  years  of  the  century 
moved  the  slight  figure  of  melodious  but  spite- 
ful Tom  ]^Ioore.  for  the  moment  self-exiled 
from  England,  and  that  other  little  great  man. 
subtle  and  courtly  Aaron  Burr,  now  serving  his 
single  term  as  Vice-President;  already  busy 
with  the  treasonous  plotting  which,  after  his 
duel  with  Hamilton,  was  to  make  him  an  out- 
cast and  a  wanderer;  seeking,  as  was  his  wont, 
to  be  seen  through  a  mist,  and  whipping  his 
energies  to  their  highest  efforts  to  prove  that 
''  little  Burr"  was  the  equal  and  superior  of 
men  of  larger  size  and  pretensions.  Frequent 
inmates  of  Burr's  Georgetown  home  were  his 
daughter  Theodosia,  proud  and  high-spirited, 
gifted  and  beautiful,  and  wholly  devoted  to  her 
father's  glooming  fortunes ;  and  handsome, 
youthful  John  Vanderlyn,  whom  Burr's  gen- 
erosity had  transformed  from  a  blacksmith's 
apprentice  to  a  painter  of  the  first  rank.  \'an- 
derlyn  soon  went  back  to  Paris,  where  he  had 
won  his  first  successes  as  an  artist,  and  where, 
when  Burr  visited  him.  in  ruin  and  distress,  he 
74 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

proved  himself  the  most  grateful  and  helpful  of 
friends. 

Witty  and  robust  Gilbert  Stuart,  A'anderlyn's 
former  master,  had  his  studio  in  Georgetown 
from  1803  to  1805,  and  "to  sit  to  ]\Ir.  Stuart" 
was  a  favorite  diversion  with  the  belles  and 
beaux  and  the  eminent  men  and  women  of  the 
time.  Indeed,  the  federal  city  had  no  lack  of 
distinguished  visitors  during  this  early  period. 
Thomas  Paine,  lately  come  from  France,  spent 
the  winter  of  1802  at  the  capital,  and  Baron 
Humboldt,  scientist  and  traveller,  was  a  visitor 
in  the  spring  of  1804.  ''  We  have  lately  had 
a  great  treat,"  wrote  ]\Irs.  ^Madison  to  a  friend, 
"  in  the  company  of  a  charming  Prussian  baron. 
All  the  ladies  say  they  are  in  love  with  him, 
notwithstanding  his  lack  of  personal  charms. 
He  is  the  most  polite,  modest,  well-informed, 
and  interesting  traveller  we  have  ever  met,  and 
is  much  pleased  with  America.  I  hope  one  day 
you  will  become  acquainted  with  our  charming 
Baron  Humboldt.  .  .  .  He  had  with  him  a 
train  of  philosophers,  who,  though  clever  and 
entertaining,  did  not  compare  to  the  baron." 

About  the  time  that  Stuart  left  Georgetown 
Joel  Barlow,  patriot,  poet,  and  man  of  affairs, 
75 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

took  up  his  residence  there,  and,  with  a  part  of 
the  generous  fortune  he  had  acquired  in  Eu- 
rope, estabhshed  on  the  heights  a  dehghtful 
home,  on  which  he  bestow^ed  the  name  of  Kalo- 
rama,  and  which  quickly  became  the  Holland 
House  of  America.  Barlow's  library,  in  which 
he  gave  the  finishing  touches  to  his  once  famous 
"  Columbiad,"  was  said  to  be  the  largest  and 
best  in  the  country;  his  hospitality  was  at  once 
generous  and  refined ;  and  until  1 8 1 1 ,  wdien  he 
went  as  minister  to  France  to  come  home  again 
no  more,  he  was  the  friend  and  frequent  host 
of  the  foremost  men  of  his  time.  By  no  means 
least  among  Kalorama's  early  guests  was  Robert 
Fulton,  who  found  an  intelligent  patron  in  Bar- 
low, and  who  launched  on  the  waters  of  Rock 
Creek  the  tiny  forerunner  of  the  "  Clermont." 

Madison  while  Secretary  of  State  also  resided 
in  Georgetown,  and  there  Dolly  Madison,  warm- 
hearted, gracious,  hospitable,  queened  it  kindly 
in  spangled  turban,  paradise  plumes,  and  rosetted 
shoes.  It  was  at  one  of  her  receptions  in 
Georgetown  that  a  characteristic  incident  oc- 
curred. A  shy  country  lad  had  come  to  pay  his 
respects  to  the  star  of  the  hour.  Mrs.  Madison, 
observing  him  neglected  and  embarrassed,  ap- 
76 


The  Jeffersonian   Epoch 

proached  him  quickly  with  extended  hand  and 
said, — 

"  Are  you  Wilhani  Campbell  Preston,  the  son 
of  my  friend  and  kinswoman,  Sally  Campbell? 
Sit  down,  my  son,  for  you  are  my  son,  and  I 
am  the  first  person  who  ever  saw  you  in  this 
world." 

Turning  then  with  a  graciousness  which 
charmed  the  young  man,  she  introduced  him 
to  the  circle  of  young  girls  about  her, — a  dazed, 
abashed  boy  not  less  interesting  to  her  solicitude 
than  the  ambassadors  in  their  regalia,  or  the 
officers  in  the  lustre  of  full  uniform,  who 
danced  attention  at  Dolly  Madison's  "  at 
home." 

Jefferson,  as  President,  laid  as  heavy  a  hand 
on  official  as  he  did  on  social  forms.  When 
Congress  met  on  December  8,  1801,  instead  of 
going  with  a  state  procession  to  the  Capitol,  to 
read  his  message  to  the  two  houses  in  joint 
assembly,  as  had  been  the  custom  of  Washing- 
ton and  Adams,  he  sent  it  in  writing  by  the 
hands  of  his  private  secretary.  His  reason  for 
so  doing,  according  to  that  stout  Federalist 
William  Sullivan,  was  because  a  speech  could 
be  answered  and  a  message  could  not ;  but  Sul- 
77 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

livan  asserts,  in  almost  the  next  sentence,  that 
Congress  was  utterly  subservient  to  Jefferson, 
and  it  could  therefore  have  made  no  difference. 
The  President's  action,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  was 
termed  an  insult  to  the  body  he  addressed,  and 
it  was  finally  decided  that  no  reply  should  be 
made  to  a  message  received  in  so  informal  a 
manner. 

Thus  was  abolished  an  honored  custom.  The 
young  man  who  helped  Jefferson  to  wipe  it  out 
was  Meriwether  Lewis,  a  protege  of  the  Presi- 
dent's, who  at  twenty-five  had  resigned  an 
army  captaincy  to  become  his  secretary,  and 
who  was  destined  during  the  next  four  years 
to  play  a  considerable  part  in  public  life.  In 
the  autumn  of  1803  he  carried  from  Jefferson 
to  the  Senate  the  treaty  for  the  purchase  of 
Louisiana,  and,  when  that  instrument  had  been 
ratified,  he  headed  the  first  expedition  sent  out 
to  explore  the  newly  acquired  territory.  Upon 
his  return  to  the  East  the  President  named  him 
governor  of  the  region  he  had  explored,  but  his 
career  ended  soon  after  with  a  tragedy.  While 
temporarily  insane  he  cut  his  own  throat, — an 
end  not  unlike  that  of  Tobias  Lear,  secretary  to 
Washington. 

78 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

Four  Congresses  ran  their  course  while  Jef- 
ferson was  President.  Each  of  them  brought 
brilHant  accessions  to  the  Senate  and  the  House. 
Nicholas  Gilman,  from  1805  until  the  close  of 
his  life  New  Hampshire's  courtly  and  scholarly- 
Senator,  had  been  a  member  of  Washington's 
military  family,  afterwards  serving  in  the  Con- 
tinental Congress.  Timothy  Pickering,  re- 
doubtable leader  of  the  "  Essex  Junto,"  repre- 
sented Massachusetts  in  the  Senate  from  1803 
until  1 81 2,  when,  failing  of  re-election,  he  sat 
for  four  years  in  the  House.  John  Ouincy 
Adams  was  Pickering's  colleague  from  1803 
to  1808,  but  then  gave  place  to  James  Lloyd, 
who  served  until  181 3.  Lloyd  had  the  stature 
of  a  half-grown  boy,  and  the  dress  and  man- 
ners of  a  French  courtier,  but  those  wdio  op- 
posed him  in  debate  never  afterwards  questioned 
his  ability  or  his  courage. 

De  Witt  Clinton,  of  New  York,  a  giant 
among  strong  men,  who  came  to  the  Senate 
in  1802,  resigned  at  the  end  of  a  year  to  become 
mayor  of  New  York  City;  but  Samuel  Latham 
Mitchill,  Clinton's  colleague,  w^as  for  a  dozen 
years  one  of  the  most  capable  and  influential  of 
Senators.  Pennsylvania  sent  George  Logan, 
79 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

the  only  strict  member  of  the  Society  of 
Friends  who  ever  sat  in  the  Senate.  Samuel 
Maclay,  also  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Joseph  An- 
derson, eighteen  years 'a  Senator  from  Tennes- 
see, had  both  been  officers  in  the  Continental 
army,  while  John  Condict,  long  one  of  New 
Jersey's  representatives  in  the  Senate,  was 
another  veteran  of  the  Revolution.  William 
Smith,  twenty-three  years  a  Senator  from 
Maryland,  had  served  from  the  opening  of 
the  War  of  Independence  until  its  close,  win- 
ning, by  his  gallant  defence  of  Fort  Mifflin,  a 
vote  of  thanks  and  a  sword  from  Congress. 
Blunt  and  rugged  Thomas  Worthington,  of 
Ohio,  who  had  once  been  a  sailor  before  the 
mast,  had  a  fitting  colleague  in  Joseph  Smith, 
whilom  preacher  and  frontier  politician.  James 
A.  Bayard,  of  Delaware,  promoted  from  the 
House  in  1805,  sat  in  the  Senate  until  the  close 
of  the  second  war  with  England. 

Georgia,  in  1807,  sent  William  H.  Crawford, 
a  man  of  superb  social  and  mental  endowments. 
From  South  Carolina  came  Pierce  Butler,  an 
eloquent  Celt,  who  proudly  traced  descent  from 
the  Dukes  of  Ormond.     When  Butler  resigned, 

his  place   was  taken  and   held   for  more  than 
80 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

twenty  years  by  John  Gaillard,  a  gifted  and 
gentle  man,  whom  urbanity,  firmness,  and 
breadth  of  vision  made  an  ahnost  ideal  legis- 
lator. One  of  the  Virginia  Senators  was 
Abraham  Venable,  intimate  friend  and  party 
adviser  of  Jefferson.  Virginia's  other  Senator, 
Wilson  Gary  Nicholas,  resigning  in  1804,  was 
succeeded  by  William  B.  Giles,  who  at  once 
became  and  long  remained  one  of  the  leaders 
of  the  Senate.  As  a  parliamentary  tactician 
Giles  was  unrivalled  in  his  time.  His  superior 
in  debate  has  never  since  appeared  in  the  Sen- 
ate. 

However,  the  best-remembered  man  to  hold 
a  seat  in  the  Senate  during  the  first  decade  of 
the  century  was  Henry  Clay,  who,  in  1806,  was 
sent  by  Kentucky,  his  adopted  State,  to  serve 
out  a  term,  being  chosen,  in  1809,  to  complete 
another  term  of  two  years.  Members  of  the 
Senate  saw  in  the  new-comer  a  young  man  of 
thirty,  tall,  spare,  and  graceful,  with  a  small 
head  and  narrow  face,  the  latter  saved  from 
"  unaccountable  commonness"  by  a  fascinating 
smile  and  flashing  eyes,  of  darkest  blue,  that 
could  "  gaze  an  eagle  blind." 

Easier  to  remember  were  Glay's   frank  and 
1.-6  81 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

cordial  manner  and  the  striking  eloquence — 
his  was  a  voice  of  great  compass,  power,  and 
melody — with  which  at  will  he  moved  even  a 
hostile  assemblage  to  smiles  and  tears  and  en- 
thusiasm. These  qualities,  enforced  by  a  native 
gift  for  leadership,  gave  him  quick  supremacy 
and  kept  him  long  in  the  public  eye.  No  Amer- 
ican ever  laid  stronger  hold  on  the  hearts  of 
the  common  people,  and  upon  none  was  ever 
so  freely  bestowed  the  honors  of  high  official 
station.  During  the  next  forty  years  Clay,  be- 
sides serving  in  the  Senate,  was  five  times 
Speaker  of  the  House,  held  the  portfolio  of 
state,  rendered  eminent  service  as  a  diplomat, 
was  thrice  nominated  for  the  Presidency,  and 
more  than  once  declined  the  highest  offices 
within  the  gift  of  the  Chief  Executive. 

Nathaniel  Macon  was  Speaker  of  the  Seventh 
and  the  two  ensuing  Congresses.  He  was  suc- 
ceeded for  a  single  term  by  Joseph  B,  Varnum. 
Noteworthy  among  those  who  took  seats  in  the 
House  while  Macon  and  Varnum  filled  the  chair 
were  Gideon  Olin,  a  shrewd  Vermont  lawyer, 
who  had  done  more  than  any  other  man  to 
bring  his   State   into  the  Union;    and    Josiah 

Quincy,   of   ]\Iassachusetts,   son   and   namesake 
82 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

of  the  Revolutionary  orator,  who  after  fourteen 
years'  weighty  service  in  Congress  was  to  win 
enduring  fame  as  president  of  Harvard  College. 
Another  new  member  from  ]\Iassachusetts  was 
Dr.  Manasseh  Cutler,  an  eloquent  divine,  now 
best  remembered  for  his  part  in  the  settlement 
of  Ohio.  William  Pitkin,  long  a  member  from 
Connecticut,  soon  proved  himself  one  of  the 
shrewdest  leaders  of  the  Federalist  party.  Ben- 
jamin Tallmage,  of  the  same  State,  another 
keen,  unyielding  Federalist,  had  been  an  aide 
to  Washington,  and  as  Andre's  custodian  had 
walked  with  the  latter  to  the  scaffold. 

Erastus  Root,  of  New  York,  an  ardent  Demo- 
crat of  the  Clinton  school,  began  in  1803  a 
period  of  Congressional  service  which,  with  oc- 
casional breaks,  extended  over  thirty  years. 
Colonel  John  Paterson,  another  New  York 
member,  had  led  a  regiment  in  Arnold's  inva- 
sion of  Canada,  and  had  played  a  hero's  part 
at  Princeton,  Trenton,  Saratoga,  and  Mon- 
mouth. From  New  Jersey  came  Henry  South- 
ard and  Ebenezer  Elmer,  likewise  fighting 
veterans  of  the  Revolution.  William  Findley, 
eleven  times  elected  to  the  House  from  Penn- 
sylvania, had  also  served  under  Washington. 
83 


Washington  :   The  Federal   City 

So  had  William  Jones  and  John  Rea,  of  the 
same  State. 

Nicholas  Van  Dyke,  a  fluent  and  effective  de- 
bater, represented  Delaware.  From  Virginia 
came  Thomas  Newton,  whose  service  in  the 
House  was  to  cover  a  period  of  thirty  years, 
while  prominent  among  his  colleagues  were 
two  sons-in-law  of  Jefferson, — Thomas  Mann 
Randolph  and  John  W.  Eppes,  the  latter  sev- 
eral times  chairman  of  the  Ways  and  Means 
Committee.  Richard  M.  Johnson,  of  Kentucky, 
was  twelve  years  a  member  of  the  House,  but 
left  his  seat  long  enough  to  command  a  regi- 
ment of  volunteers  in  the  second  war  with 
England,  and  to  slay  in  single-handed  combat 
— a  claim  afterwards  scouted  by  his  partisan 
opponents — the  Indian  chief  Tecumseh.  Ten- 
nessee was  represented  by  George  W.  Campbell, 
a  man  of  deeds  rather  than  words,  who  was 
afterwards  Senator  and  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, and  North  Carolina  by  William  Alston, 
long  chairman  of  the  W^ays  and  ]\Ieans  Com- 
mittee. Georgia  sent  patriot  John  Milledge  and 
that  able,  noisy  champion  of  State  sovereignty, 
George  M.  Troup;  while  Ohio  was  served  for 
twelve  years  by  clear-headed  Jeremiah  Morrow, 
84 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

and  North  Carolina  for  an  even  longer  period 
by  bibulous,  eccentric,  but  brainful  Lemuel 
Sawyer. 

Yet  another  member  of  the  House  during  this 
period  was  John  P.  Van  Ness,  of  New  York, 
"  rich,  handsome,  well-bred,  and  well-read," 
who,  before  his  single  term  was  ended,  found  a 
wife  and  a  permanent  home  at  the  capital.  The 
growth  of  the  federal  city  made  Washing- 
ton's "  obstinate  ]\Ir.  Burnes"  a  rich  man,  and 
when  he  died  he  left  his  ever-growing  fortune 
to  his  daughter,  ]\Iarcia.  Luther  Martin,  the 
wayward,  brilliant  ]\Iaryland  advocate,  received 
her  into  his  family  to  be  educated  and  trained 
for  society  in  the  companionship  of  his 
daughters,  and  when  she  returned  to  the  Burnes 
homestead  her  beauty,  wit,  and  winsomeness 
made  her  the  belle  of  a  notable  coterie. 

Into  this  coterie,  when  IMarcia  was  nineteen, 
came  John  Van  Ness,  and  laid  successful  suit 
to  the  heiress's  heart  and  hand.  They  were 
married  in  1802,  and  hard  by  the  bride's  moss- 
roofed  cottage  they  built  the  famous  Van  Ness 
mansion,  designed  by  Latrobe,  finished  in  fine 
woods  and  marbles,  and  decorated  with  sculp- 
tures from  Italy.  Here  they  long  dispensed  a 
85 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

distinguished  hospitality,  and  here  their  daugh- 
ter, married  to  Arthur  Middleton,  of  South 
Carohna,  died  in  1822.  Then  Alarcia  went 
into  seclusion,  and  in  fulfilment  of  a  vow 
erected  an  orphan  asylum  and  devoted  her  life 
to  works  of  charity  in  schools  and  hospitals. 
At  her  death  she  was  entombed  with  public 
honors  in  that  classic  mausoleum  which  was 
afterwards  removed  to  Oak  Hill  Cemetery  in 
Georgetown,  where  in  later  years  the  author 
of  "  Home,  Sweet  Home"  found  a  home  at 
last. 

Washington  during  Jefferson's  time  grew  to 
be  a  town  of  five  thousand  inhabitants.  The 
President  showed  a  lively  interest  in  its  future 
and  did  much  to  improve  it.  He  caused  Penn- 
sylvania Avenue  to  be  opened  and  planted  with 
shade-trees  in  imitation  of  the  Unter  den  Linden 
in  Berlin ;  hastened  the  completion  of  the  White 
House,  and,  in  1808,  made  Benjamin  Henry 
Latrobe  supervising  architect  of  the  Capitol. 
Latrobe,  a  resourceful,  energetic  man,  and  one 
of  the  best-schooled  architects  of  his  time,  built 
the  south  and  reconstructed  the  north  wing 
after  plans  of  his  own  designing,  placing  the 

Senate  in  a  chamber  modelled  after  the  ancient 
86 


The  JefFersonian   Epoch 

Greek  theatre,  and  the  House  in  a  spacious 
hall  of  the  Grecian  style.  The  wings  when 
finished  were  connected  by  a  wooden  bridge, 
and  so  remained  until  the  Capitol  was  recon- 
structed after  its  burning  by  the  British  in  1814. 
While  these  improvements  were  making,  a 
plan  of  government  for  the  federal  city  had 
been  devised  and  enacted  by  Congress.  An 
act  of  incorporation  approved  in  Alay,  1802, 
gave  the  residents  authority  to  manage  what 
concerned  themselves  more  than  the  general 
government  by  providing  for  two  legislative 
chambers,  one  of  seven  and  the  other  of  five 
members,  elected  annually  on  a  general  ticket, 
the  smaller  body  being  chosen  by  ballot  from 
among  the  twelve.  However,  it  was  enacted 
that  the  President,  and  not  the  residents,  should 
appoint  the  executive  head  of  the  district,  who 
in  turn  named  his  subordinates, — this  on  the 
theory  that  a  mayor  thus  selected  would  be 
sure  to  administer  local  affairs  in  harmony  with 
the  national  Administration.  The  city's  first 
mayor  was  Robert  Brent,  who  held  office  for 
a  decade.  Brent  was  a  son-in-law  of  Notley 
Young,  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Wash- 
ington, and  for  many  years  joined  to  the  duties 
'   'S7 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

of  mayor  those  of  paymaster-general  of  the 
army.  He  built,  lived,  and  died  in  the  house 
situated  on  the  southeast  corner  of  Twelfth 
Street  and  Maryland  Avenue,  Southwest. 

A  supplementary  act  was  passed  by  Congress 
in  1804  enlarging  the  power  of  the  corporation 
in  some  details.  This  act  reduced  the  city 
councils  to  nine  members,  and  provided  that 
each  branch  should  be  elected  on  a  separate 
ballot,  experience  having  quickly  demonstrated 
the  confusion  of  the  former  method.  A  few 
years  later  a  second  supplementary  act  was 
found  advisable,  and  in  181 2  the  election  of 
their  mayor  was  conferred  indirectly  on  the 
people,  though  his  nominations  of  minor  offi- 
cials were  subject  to  confirmation  by  the  alder- 
men. This  board,  elected  for  two  years,  was 
now  organized  to  consist  of  six  members,  while 
the  board  of  councilmen  consisted  of  nine  mem- 
bers chosen  for  three  years.  Ere  long  the  ex- 
pansion of  the  administrative  powers  of  the 
corporation  was  carried  a  step  farther,  and  on 
May  15,  1820,  all  previous  enactments  were 
superseded  by  the  "  Charter  of  the  City  of 
Washington,"  ^^•hich  remained  in  force,  with 
few  and  slight  alterations,  for  over  half  a  cen- 


The  Jeffersonian   Epoch 

tur}-.  The  corporation  under  this  instrument 
exercised  the  powers  over  real  and  personal 
property,  the  welfare  of  the  citizens,  and  the 
improvement  of  the  city  common  to  American 
municipalities  of  that  period. 

Not  a  few  of  the  measures  enacted  by  Wash- 
ington's pioneer  law-makers  have  the  flavor  of 
an  antique  time.  One  of  these  authorized  the 
mayor,  Robert  Brent,  to  make  a  contract  with 
such  person  as  he  might  deem  a  proper  one, 
and  to  give  him  the  exclusive  right  to  sweep 
the  chimneys  in  Washington  for  a  term  of 
years.  The  chimneys  were  to  be  swept  once 
in  three  months  from  April  to  October,  and 
once  in  two  months  the  rest  of  the  year,  between 
five  and  seven  o'clock  in  the  morning,  or  at 
such  time  as  could  be  agreed  upon  between  the 
chimney-sweep  and  the  householder.  The 
chimney-sweep  was  entitled  to  receive  from 
the  person  so  contracting  w'ith  him  the  sum 
of  ten  cents  for  each  story  of  each  flue  or  chim- 
ney swept;  and  if  any  flue  or  chimney  should 
take  fire  from  the  presence  of  soot  wuthin  two 
months  from  the  last  sweeping,  then  the  sweep 
should  pay  a  fine  of  five  dollars.  These  regula- 
tions   were    framed    in    April,    1807.      Mayor 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

Brent  in  due  time  gave  notice  that  he  had  made 
a  contract  for  the  sweeping  of  the  chimneys 
with  Job  Haight,  who,  doubtless,  long  filled  an 
humble  but  essential  place  in  the  domestic 
economy  of  the  capital. 

A  more  important  matter  to  receive  early 
attention  from  the  law-makers  bore  fruit  in 
an  act  passed  in  December,  1804,  to  establish 
"  a  permanent  institution  for  the  education  of 
youth  in  the  city  of  Washington."  This  act 
provided  for  a  board  of  trustees  to  superintend 
the  public  schools,  and  for  the  support  of  such 
schools  appropriated  a  portion  of  the  excise  fees, 
and  of  the  taxes  on  slaves  and  dogs.  Jefferson 
was  elected  president  of  the  first  board,  and  in 
a  letter  dated  at  Monticello,  August  14,  1805, 
gracefully  accepted  the  position.  It  was  also 
during  Jefferson's  Presidency  that  the  Library 
of  Congress  came  into  existence.  A  joint  com- 
mittee of  Congress,  in  1801,  expended  five  thou- 
sand dollars  for  reference  books  needed  by  the 
members,  and  which  were  housed  in  suitable 
rooms  at  the  Capitol.  An  annual  appropria- 
tion of  one  thousand  dollars  was  voted  for  sub- 
sequent purchases,  and  John  Beckley,  clerk  of 
the  House,  was  made  librarian.  Beckley's  first 
90 


The  Jeffersonian   Epoch 

catalogue  gives  the  titles  of  nine  hundred  and 
ninety-three  books  and  magazines, — a  truly- 
modest  beginning  for  what  has  become  one  of 
the  great  libraries  of  the  world. 

When  Jefferson  promised  Hamilton,  as  a  part 
of  the  price  exacted  for  Federalist  support  in 
his  contest  with  Burr,  that  he  would  care  for 
the  infant  navy,  a  million  dollars  had  been 
already  voted  by  Congress  to  build  six  ships 
of  war  and  purchase  land  for  as  many  navy- 
yards  in  which  to  build  them.  Washington 
having  been  indicated  as  one  of  the  places 
at  which  a  yard  should  be  established  and  a 
ship  constructed,  in  jMarch,  1800,  forty  acres 
of  land  were  purchased  for  the  purpose  along 
the  Eastern  Branch  of  the  Potomac,  and  work 
was  at  once  begun  on  a  seventy-four-gun  ship. 
Four  years  later  Latrobe  prepared  detailed 
plans  for  the  completion  of  the  establishment, 
and  these  were,  in  the  main,  adhered  to  in 
subsequent  years.  Captain  Thomas  Tingey, 
commandant  of  the  yard  for  nearly  thirty 
years,  was  a  typical  eighteenth  century  sea- 
dog,  who,  during  the  Revolution,  had  often 
proved  his  daredevil  bravery,  and  he  re- 
mained until  his  death  a  picturesque  and 
91 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

striking  figure  in  the  official  society  of  Wash- 
ington. 

The  Louisiana  Purchase,  which  doubled  the 
area  of  the  United  States,  remains  the  great 
measure  of  Jefferson's  Administration,  but  there 
are  other  matters  which  received  a  far  larger 
share  of  attention  from  Congress.  These  were 
what  were  termed  the  ''  Yazoo  fraud,"  the  im- 
peachment of  Justice  Chase,  and  the  trial  for 
treason  of  Aaron  Burr. 

Georgia,  in  1802,  ceded  to  the  United  States 
its  lands  in  the  Yazoo  country,  some  thirty-five 
million  acres,  out  of  which  were  afterwards 
carved  the  States  of  Alabama  and  Mississippi, 
whereupon  certain  speculators,  who  several  years 
before  had  bought  a  portion  of  the  ceded  terri- 
tory from  the  Georgia  Legislature, — a  sale  can- 
celled by  that  body  when  charges  of  bribery 
were  made, — demanded  that  the  government 
should  compensate  them  for  the  land  wrong- 
fully taken  from  them,  as  they  claimed.  Jef- 
ferson and  his  advisers  deemed  it  "  expedient 
to  enter  into  a  compromise  on  reasonable  terms ;" 
but  the  Federalists  fiercely  opposed  such  action, 
as  an  attempt,  connived  at  by  the  President  and 
his  Cabinet,  to  swindle  the  government.  All 
92 


The  Jeffersonian    Epoch 

through  the  winter  of  1803  the  matter  was  acri- 
moniously debated  in  Congress  and  the  press, 
John  Randolph,  savage  and  sarcastic,  joining 
the  Federalists  in  their  assault  on  the  Adminis- 
tration. In  the  end  the  bill  for  the  relief  of 
the  claimants  was  defeated.  Some  years  later, 
however,  the  Supreme  Court  decided  in  their 
favor,  and  Congress  voted  eight  million  dollars 
in  settlement  of  the  matter. 

Justice  Chase,  an  extreme  Federalist,  by  re- 
lentless enforcement  of  the  Alien  and  Sedition 
laws,  had  incurred  the  animosity  of  the  now 
dominant  Democratic  party,  and  when  he  made 
use  on  the  bench  of  language  reflecting  on  the 
government,  Jefferson's  adherents  in  Congress 
secured  the  appointment  of  a  House  committee 
to  inquire  into  his  official  conduct.  This  com- 
mittee reported  articles  of  impeachment,  which 
were  adopted,  and  on  January  2,  1805,  the 
justice  was  arraigned  before  the  Senate.  His 
impeachment  excited  much  sympathy,  even 
among  his  opponents,  on  account  of  his  age 
and  his  services  to  the  country,  and  Wash- 
ington was  crowded  with  excited  visitors  when, 
on  February  9,  his  trial  began  before  the  Senate 
sitting  as  a  high  court  of  impeachment. 
93 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

John  Randolph  conducted  the  prosecution  in 
behalf  of  the  House,  and  the  justice  was  de- 
fended by  the  Federal  bull-dog,  Luther  IMartin, 
"  drunken,  slovenly,  witty,  audacious,  shouting 
with  a  school-boy's  fun  at  the  idea  of  tearing 
the  indictment  to  pieces  and  teaching  the  Vir- 
ginia Democrats  some  law."  Randolph  proved 
no  match  for  his  masterly  antagonist,  and  the 
end  of  a  fortnight  brought  the  justice's  full 
acquittal.  He  continued  on  the  bench  until  his 
death,  in  1811.  There  were,  however,  two 
changes  in  the  Supreme  Court  during  Jeffer- 
son's Presidency, — Justice  Paterson,  who  had 
died,  and  Justice  ]\Ioore,  who  had  resigned, 
being  succeeded  by  William  Johnson,  of  North 
Carolina,  and  Brockholst  Livingston,  of  New 
York.  An  additional  member  of  the  court 
having  been  authorized  by  Congress,  Thomas 
Todd,  of  Kentucky,  was  appointed  to  the  place 
in  1807. 

A  message  sent  by  Jefferson  to  Congress  in 
the  opening  days  of  1807  proved  that  fate  some- 
times works  quick  changes.  Within  two  years 
of  the  time  when  he.  as  Vice-President,  had 
presided  over  the  trial  of  Justice  Chase,  Aaron 
Burr,  as  the  outcome  of  a  mysterious  expedition 
94 


The  Jeffersonian   Epoch 

he  had  lately  piloted  down  the  Ohio  and  jMis- 
sissippi,  found  himself  charged,  in  the  message 
just  referred  to,  with  plotting  the  disruption  of 
the  Union  and  the  erection  of  an  empire  in  the 
Southwest.  Washington  followed  with  anxious 
interest  Burr's  trial  for  treason,  which  began 
at  Richmond  in  August,  1807.  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  presided.  William  Wirt  led  the  prose- 
cution, and  opposed  to  him  were  the  defendant 
and  Luther  Martin,  who  in  a  final  address  of 
fourteen  hours  tore  in  shreds  the  evidence 
offered  and  battered  into  the  dust  the  strongest 
positions  of  the  prosecution.  Burr's  acquittal 
had  a  dramatic,  even  touching,  sequel.  Fol- 
lowing his  release,  he  was  for  some  years  an 
exile  in  Europe,  but  in  the  end  resumed  his  resi- 
dence in  New  York.  There  he  soon  secured  a 
lucrative  law  practice,  and  there,  when  his 
former  defender  came  to  him  a  helpless,  penni- 
less paralytic,  he  gave  Luther  Martin  a  home 
and  generous  care  in  his  own  house. 

Burr's  trial  ending  as  it  did  prompted  the 
charge  that  Jefferson  had  been  actuated  by  a 
strong  personal  feeling  in  urging  the  prosecu- 
tion of  his  old  rival  for  the  Presidency.  This 
he  spiritedly  denied,  but  had  he  been  more 
95 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

sagely  counselled  he  would  probably  have  taken 
a  different  course.  However,  with  two  excep- 
tions, respectable  and  now  forgotten  medioc- 
rities composed  his  Cabinet.  The  exceptions 
were  Albert  Gallatin  and  James  Madison.  The 
former  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury  left  an  in- 
delible and  beneficent  impression  upon  our  na- 
tional system  of  finance,  but  he  was  of  foreign 
birth;  and  it  was  Madison,  Secretary  of  State, 
who  stood  out  from  the  first  as  the  logical 
successor  to  the  Presidency. 

There  was  little  opposition  to  the  re-election 
of  Jefferson  in  1804,  Charles  C.  Pinckney,  the 
Federalist  candidate,  receiving  only  fourteen 
electoral  votes.  Four  years  later,  Madison,  who 
had  been. formally  nominated  by  a  Congressional 
caucus,  scored  a  triumph  equally  decisive,  re- 
ceiving one  hundred  and  twenty-two  electoral 
votes  to  forty-seven  votes  cast  for  Pinckney, 
again  the  candidate  of  the  Federalists. 


96 


CHAPTER    IV 

THE   OLD   ORDER    CHANGES 

A  SLENDER,  undersized,  thin-haired, 
mild-visaged  man  of  fifty-eight, — such 
was  James  Madison  when,  on  March  4,  1809, 
garbed  for  the  occasion  in  a  plain  suit  of  black 
clothes,  all  of  American  manufacture,  he  took 
the  oath  of  office  as  President.  Yet  there  were 
elements  of  pathos  almost  dramatic  in  the  life 
which  on  that  day  reached  meridian.  During  the 
first  half  of  it  Madison  had  been  overshadowed 
by  Jefferson,  and,  after  work  of  the  first  order  in 
making  the  Constitution  and  securing  its  adop- 
tion, had  been  forced  for  many  years  to  labor 
in  public  life  as  the  subordinate  of  one  who 
was  absent  in  Europe  when  the  Constitution 
was  made,  and  who  was  always  proud  to  say 
that  he  was  not  responsible  for  its  details. 

Moreover,  Madison,  when  finally  freed  from 
Jefferson's  control  and  named  as  his  successor, 
found  himself  facing  a  new  generation  which 
brushed  aside  as  old-fashioned  the  counsel  and 

plans  of  the  passing  generation  to   which  the 
1.-7  97 


Washington  :   The   Federal   City 

new  President  belonged.  Thus  Madison,  pa- 
tient servant  of  his  master  of  the  generation 
that  was  gone,  was  obhged  to  serve  for  eight 
years  more  under  the  young  masters  of  the 
generation  that  was  to  come.  Decrees  of  fate 
less  bitter  have  been  chosen  subjects  with  tragic 
poets  than  the  one  offered  by  this  strong  man, 
who  seemed  fitted  for  better  things,  but  who 
could  not  avoid  what  the  Greeks  would  have 
called  his  destiny. 

There  was,  however,  no  hint  of  coming 
storm  on  Madison's  inauguration  day.  Salutes 
of  cannon  ushered  in  its  dawn,  and  troops  of 
militia,  assembling  at  Georgetown  and  Alex- 
andria, marched  to  Washington  to  escort  the 
President-elect  to  the  Capitol,  while  ten  thou- 
sand people  gathered  along  the  way  to  greet  the 
procession  with  waving  kerchiefs  and  shouts  of 
welcome.  Arrived  at  the  Capitol,  IVIadison  de- 
scended from  his  carriage  and  entered  the  Hall 
of  Representatives,  where,  the  oath  of  office 
having  been  administered  by  Chief  Justice 
Marshall,  he  delivered  his  inaugural  address. 
This  ceremony  ended,  Madison  reviewed  the 
infantry  drawn  up  to  receive  him,  and  then, 
escorted  by  cavalry,  returned  to  his  home,  where 

gS 


The  Old  Order   Changes 

Mrs.  Madison  had  prepared  an  abundance  of 
good  cheer  to  be  set  before  those  who  called  to 
pay  their  respects  to  the  new  President. 

The  day  ended  with  an  inauguration  ball,  held 
at  Long's  Hotel.  "  Upward  of  four  hundred 
persons,"  writes  one  who  was  present,  *'  graced 
the  scene,  which  was  not  a  little  enlivened  by 
the  handsome  display  of  female  fashion  and 
beauty."  The  toilets,  according  to  the  stand- 
ards of  the  day,  were  sumptuous,  and  none  more 
so  than  that  of  Mrs.  Madison, — a  gorgeous  robe 
of  buff  velvet  in  which  she  *'  looked  and  moved 
like  a  queen."  She  wore,  besides,  full  strings 
of  pearls  upon  her  neck  and  arms,  and  her  head 
nodded  beneath  a  Paris  turban  set  with  bird-of- 
paradise  plumes. 

A  singular  figure,  to  folk  of  another  age, 
seems  this  magnificent  dame  who  yet  had  a 
pocket  for  a  bandanna,  which  she  told  Henry 
Clay,  as  she  wiped  away  the  snuff,  was  "  for 
rough  work,"  while  the  lace  handkerchief  which 
she  fluttered  a  moment  later  was  her  "  polisher." 
A  singular  figure,  also,  she  must  have  appeared 
at  the  moment  to  those  who  recalled  her  past, 
for  she  was  the  daughter  of  sober  Quaker 
parents,  who  had  found  her  an  equally  sober 
99 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

Quaker  husband, — this  before,  a  widow  just 
turned  twenty,  she  became  the  wife  of  Madison. 
Nature,  however,  had  amply  endowed  Mrs. 
Madison  for  the  position  she  was  now  to  fill. 
She  had  tact,  frankness,  and  a  noble  nature, 
and  these,  with  a  tenacious  memory  that  never 
lost  a  name,  won  her  the  love  of  every  class  of 
people.  Until  her  dying  day,  and  she  lived  long, 
she  was  Washington's  society  heroine. 

Among  the  guests  at  Mrs.  Madison's  ball 
none  was  so  conspicuous  as  Jefferson,  and  never 
had  the  retiring  President  appeared  more  genial 
or  more  ready-witted.  Light-hearted  and  full 
of  repartee,  he  bred  the  spirit  of  gayety  in  all 
about  him.  "  You  see  they  will  follow  you," 
a  friend  whispered  in  jest,  as  the  ladies  pressed 
near  him.  "  That  is  as  it  should  be,"  was  Jef- 
ferson's quick  reply,  "  since  I  am  too  old  to 
follow  them.  I  remember,"  he  added,  "when 
Dr.  Franklin's  friends  were  taking  leave  of  him 
in  France,  the  ladies  almost  smothered  him  with 
embraces.  On  his  introducing  me  as  his  succes- 
sor, I  told  them  that  among  the  rest  of  his  privi- 
leges I  wished  he  would  transfer  this  one  to  me. 
But  he  answered,  '  No,  no ;  you  are  too  young 
a  man.'  "     When  the  ex-President  had  finished. 


The   Old   Order   Changes 

a  young  lady  listener  coyly  suggested  that  this 
invidious  bar  no  longer  existed.  What  re- 
sponse Jefferson  made  is  not  recorded,  but  it 
is  safe  to  believe  that  the  maiden  did  not  wait 
for  one. 

The  morning  after  ]\Iadison's  inauguration 
Jefferson  left  the  capital  for  his  home  at  Monti- 
cello.  The  social  anarchy  he  had  established 
eight  years  before  was  at  once  ended  by  Mrs. 
Madison,  who  introduced,  as  a  leaven  to  the  ex- 
cessive democracy  with  which  the  late  Presi- 
dent had  verified  his  professions  of  love  for  the 
people,  many  of  the  formalities  of  Mrs.  Wash- 
ington and  Mrs.  Adams.  Dinner-parties  and 
receptions  were  given  every  week,  and  the  Presi- 
dent also  held  levees.  Mrs.  Madison  was  as- 
sisted in  the  discharge  of  her  social  duties  by 
her  two  sisters, — Lucy  Cutts  and  Anna  Wash- 
ington, one  the  wife  of  a  Representative  from 
Maine,  and  the  other  making  ready  to  put  off 
her  widow's  garb  in  order  to  marry  Justice 
Todd,  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  trio  of 
sisters  attracted  much  attention  and  admira- 
tion. Washington  Irving,  in  a  letter  written 
from  the  capital  and  dated  January  13,  181 1, 
thus    describes    his    first    meeting    with    them, 

lOI 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

which  was  also  his  first  experience  of  Wash- 
ington society : 

"  I  arrived  at  the  inn  about  dusk,  and  under- 
standing that  Mrs.  Madison  was  to  have  her 
levee  that  very  evening,  I  swore  by  all  the  gods 
I  would  be  there.  But  how?  was  the  question. 
I  had  got  away  down  into  Georgetown,  and  the 
persons  to  whom  my  letters  of  introduction 
were  directed  lived  all  upon  Capitol  Hill,  about 
three  miles  off,  while  the  President's  House 
was  exactly  half-way.  Here  was  a  nonplus 
enough  to  startle  any  man  of  less  enterprising 
spirit ;  but  I  had  sworn  to  be  there,  and  I  deter- 
mined to  keep  my  oath.  .  .  .  There  was  a 
party  of  gentlemen  going  from  the  house,  one 
of  whom  offered  to  introduce  me.  I  cut  one 
of  my  best  opera  flourishes,  skipped  into  the 
dressing-room,  popped  my  head  into  the  hands 
of  a  sanguinary  barber,  who  carried  havoc 
and  devastation  into  the  lower  regions  of  my 
face,  and  in  a  few  minutes  I  emerged  from 
dirt  and  darkness  into  the  blazing  splendor  of 
Mrs.  Madison's  drawing-room.  Here  I  was 
most  graciously  received ;  found  a  crowded 
collection  of  great  and  little  men,  of  ugly  old 
women  and  beautiful  young  ones,  and  in  ten 

I02 


The   Old   Order   Changes 

minutes  was  hand  and  glove  with  half  of  the 
people  in  the  assemblage.  Mrs.  Madison  is  a 
fine,  portly,  buxom  dame,  who  has  a  smile  and 
a  pleasant  word  for  everybody.  Her  sisters, 
Mrs.  Cutts  and  Mrs.  Washington,  are  like  the 
two  Merry  Wives  of  Windsor;  but  as  to 
Jemmy  Madison, — ah !  poor  Jemmy ! — he  is 
but  a  withered  little  apple-John." 

"  Mrs.  Madison  and  I  are  sworn  friends," 
Irving  writes  a  month  or  so  later,  and  makes 
one  regret  that  he  did  not  add  an  account  of 
the  men  and  women  with  whom  he  touched  el- 
bows at  her  "at  homes."  Nearest  to  her,  as  a 
matter  of  course,  stood  her  husband's  advisers, 
— resolute,  white-haired  George  Clinton,  Vice- 
President  since  1805;  Gallatin,  the  courtly 
Swiss  and  his  high-bred  American  wife;  tall 
and  handsome  Gideon  Granger,  for  a  dozen 
years  head  of  the  Post-Office  Department ;  Wil- 
liam Eustis,  Paul  Hamilton,  William  Pinkney, 
and  James  Monroe,  Secretary  of  State,  the  last 
named  standing  now,  as  events  proved,  upon 
the  stepping-stone  to  the  Presidency. 

Another  noteworthy  member  of  Madison's 
official  family  was  his  cousin,  Edward  Coles, 
who  had  acted  as  private  secretary  to  Jefferson 
103 


Washington:    The   Federal   City 

while  Meriwether  Lewis  was  away  on  his  ex- 
ploration of  the  Northwest,  and  who  continued 
as  such  to  Madison  when  the  latter  became 
President.  Coles  was  a  man  well  worthy  of  re- 
membrance. In  1816  Daschkoff,  the  Russian 
minister  at  Washington,  so  conducted  himself 
that  Secretary  Monroe  was  obliged  to  demand 
his  recall.  When  the  emperor  of  the  Russias  was 
led  by  Daschkoff  to  believe  that  an  insult  had 
been  offered  him,  Madison  sent  Coles,  then  a 
very  young  man,  as  a  special  ambassador  to  ex- 
plain matters  to  the  emperor;  and  so  well  did 
he  accomplish  his  mission  that  Daschkoff  was 
not  only  recalled,  but  was  sent  to  Siberia  as  an 
exile.  Coles  returned  to  America  in  181 8,  and 
the  next  year,  imperilled  by  the  hatred  of  slavery 
he  had  nourished  from  boyhood,  removed  to  Il- 
linois, where  he  freed  all  the  slaves  that  had 
been  left  him  by  his  father,  a  wealthy  Virginia 
planter,  and  gave  to  each  head  of  a  family  one 
hundred  and  sixty  acres  of  land.  He  was 
elected  governor  of  Illinois  three  years  later  on 
account  of  his  anti-slavery  sentiments,  and, 
after  a  bitter  and  desperate  conflict,  prevented 
the  pro-slavery  party  from  obtaining  control 
of  the  State.  Coles  passed  his  last  years  in 
104 


The  Old  Order   Changes 

Philadelphia,  where  he  helped  to  found  the  Re- 
publican party,  and  died,  in  1868,  at  the  ripe 
age  of  eighty-two. 

When  Edward  Coles  left  the  capital  for  Rus- 
sia, gifted  and  dissipated  James  Payne  Todd,  the 
only  child  of  j\Irs.  jMadison,  succeeded  to  the 
post  of  secretary  to  the  President,  and  served 
as  such  until  the  opening  months  of  Monroe's 
Administration.  Upon  the  tongues  of  sur- 
viving gossipers  run  stories  of  Payne  Todd's 
erratic  life  sufficient  to  fill  a  volume.  A  child 
in  arms  when  his  mother  became  the  wife  of  a 
future  President,  he  grew  into  a  tall,  handsome, 
and  wayward  youth.  Though  an  inveterate 
gamester  and  spendthrift,  piling  up  debts  for 
others  to  pay,  he  had  a  genuine  affection  for  his 
mother,  while  she  never  resisted  the  demands  nor 
seems  to  have  abridged  a  mother's  love.  Her 
letters  are  pathetic  in  reference  to  her  son. 
"  My  poor  boy,"  she  would  say.  "  Forgive  his 
excentricities,  for  his  heart  is  all  right."  Payne 
Todd  survived  his  mother  but  two  years,  dying 
in  1857  on  his  Virginia  estate,  surrounded  by 
old  servants  of  the  family. 

A  familiar,  as  well  as  honored,  figure  in  Mrs. 

Madison's    drawing-room    was    Joseph    Story, 
105 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

who,  in  1811,  succeeded  to  the  place  on  the 
Supreme  Court  bench  left  vacant  by  the  death  of 
Justice  Chase.  Story  was  then  only  thirty-two 
years  old,  but  had  already  taken  rank  among 
the  leaders  of  the  New  England  bar,  and  dur- 
ing his  long  service  as  justice — he  remained  on 
the  bench  until  his  death  in  1845 — he  stood 
second  only  to  Marshall  as  an  interpreter  of  the 
Constitution.  The  reports  of  the  Supreme 
Court  during  his  judicial  career  filled  thirty-five 
volumes,  of  which  his  opinions,  remarkable  for 
logical  clearness,  apt  illustration,  and  wealth 
of  learning,  formed  the  larger  part.  Justice 
Story's  social  gifts  were  also  of  the  highest 
order,  and  his  fine  colloquial  powers  manifested 
themselves  not  in  wit  or  epigram,  but  in  a  con- 
tinuous flow  of  genial,  sparkling  remark.  One 
other  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  was  ap- 
pointed by  Madison.  This  was  Gabriel  Duvall, 
of  Maryland,  whilom  Comptroller  of  the  Cur- 
rency, who,  in  1 8 10,  succeeded  Justice  Cushing, 
serving  until  1836. 

The  Senate  lost  neither  in  ability,  in  debating 

strength,   nor   in   striking  personalities   by  the 

changes  effected  in  its  membership  during  the 

Presidency  of  Madison.     George  W.  Campbell 

106 


The   Old   Order   Chan 


ges 


was  again  a  Senator  from  Tennessee,  which 
also  sent  Jenkin  Whiteside,  a  man  of  vigorous 
mind,  but  of  uncouth  and  rugged  manners. 
General  Thomas  Posey,  one  of  the  Senators 
from  the  lately  admitted  State  of  Louisiana, 
and  reputed  son  of  Washington,  to  whom  he 
bore  a  close  personal  resemblance,  had  com- 
manded a  company  of  Virginia  riflemen  during 
the  Revolution,  and  at  the  capture  of  Stony 
Point  had  been  one  of  the  first  to  enter  the 
enemy's  works.  The  title  of  general  he  had  won 
by  subsequent  service  under  Wayne  against  the 
Indians  of  the  Northwest.  Noteworthy  among 
the  other  new  Senators  from  the  South  were 
Charles  Tait,  of  Alabama,  and  Isham  Talbot, 
of  Kentucky,  both  lawyers  of  more  than  local 
fame,  and  both  able  supporters  in  turn  of  ]\Iadi- 
son  and  Monroe. 

Rhode  Island's  junior  Senator  was  William 
Hunter,  whose  ten  years'  service  was  to  give 
him  wide  repute  as  an  orator  and  statesman, 
while  Vermont  was  represented  for  twelve 
years  by  portly  and  good-looking  Dudley  Chase, 
uncle  of  Chief  Justice  Chase,  and  New  York 
for  an  equal  period  by  stately  Rufus  King,  who 
always  appeared  in  the  Senate  clad  in  eighteenth 
1 07 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

century  dress, — satin  coat  and  waistcoat,  knee- 
breeches,  silken  hose,  and  low  shoes.  King's 
dress  was  in  keeping  w^ith  its  wearer,  for  he 
had  been  a  member  of  the  convention  that 
framed  the  Constitution,  had  sat  in  the  first 
Federal  Congress,  and  had  served  as  minister  to 
England  under  Washington,  Adams,  and  Jef- 
ferson. His  honorable,  long-cherished  ambi- 
tion to  become  President  was  never  realized, 
but  forty  years  of  almost  continuous  public  ser- 
vice made  him,  with  the  possible  exception  of 
George  Clinton,  the  most  successful  office- 
holder of  his  time,  and  endowed,  as  he  was, 
with  a  cultivated  and  powerful  mind,  and  a  fine 
sense  of  honor,  he  held  no  post  that  he  did  not 
adorn. 

Joseph  B.  Varnum  presided  over  the  House 
in  the  Eleventh  Congress,  but  in  November, 
1811,  gave  way  to  Henry  Clay,  who  then  began 
his  long  career  as  a  Representat'-^-e.  and,  the 
only  instance  of  the  kind  in  our  history,  was  at 
once  elected  Speaker  by  a  large  vote.  Young 
men,  men  of  a  new  generation,  were  numerous 
and  all-powerful  in  the  body  of  which  Clay  was 
thus  chosen  leader.  From  New  York  came 
Peter  Buell  Porter,  who.  in  the  second  war  with 
108 


The  Old  Order  Changes 

England,  was  to  prove  himself  a  brave  and  ca- 
pable soldier.  Foremost  in  the  Pennsylvania 
delegation  were  Quaker  Jonathan  Roberts,  one 
of  Madison's  most  trusted  lieutenants,  and 
"  the  ready  champion  always  ripe  for  combat" 
of  the  tenets  of  his  party,  and  John  Sergeant,  a 
man  modest  as  he  was  able,  who  long  held  a 
foremost  place  at  the  bar  of  his  native  Philadel- 
phia. Thomas  Ringgold,  for  ten  years  a  mem- 
ber from  Maryland,  was  one  of  the  planter 
princes  of  his  State;  so  was  James  Pleasants, 
of  Virginia,  Jefferson's  cousin,  and  a  man  who, 
in  the  words  of  John  Randolph,  ''  never  made 
an  enemy  nor  lost  a  friend."  One  of  the  new 
members  from  North  Carolina  was  Lewis  Wil- 
liams, whose  period  of  service  in  the  House  was 
to  cover  nearly  three  decades. 

Georgia  sent  tall  and  affable  William  Rufus 
King,  still  a  long  way  under  thirty,  but  already 
fairly  started  on  the  career  which  made  him  a 
conspicuous  public  figure  until  the  end  of  his 
days;  Tennessee,  youthful  Felix  Grundy,  who 
promptly  gave  ample  proof  of  the  qualities 
which  twenty  years  later  were  to  assure  him 
a  potential  place  in  the  Senate,  and  South  Caro- 
lina a  brilliant  triumvirate  made  up  of  Langdon 
109 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

Cheeves,  William  Lowndes,  and  John  Caldwell 
Calhoun.  Cheeves,  though  just  turned  thirty- 
five,  had  long  been  a  leader  of  the  South  Caro- 
lina 1)ar,  and  at  once  took  commanding  rank  in 
the  House,  where  his  eloquence  moved  Washing- 
ton Irving  to  declare  that  he  now  knew  the  man- 
ner in  wdiich  the  great  classic  orators  must  have 
spoken.  Cheeves  declined  re-election  at  the  end 
of  his  second  term.  Lowndes,  characterized  by 
James  Buchanan  as  the  "  ablest,  purest,  most 
unselfish  statesman  of  his  day,"  and  by  Henry 
Clay  as  "  the  wisest  man  he  had  ever  known," 
remained  in  the  House  until  1822,  when  failing 
health  compelled  his  resignation,  and  a  little 
later  ended  a  career  of  rarest  promise. 

This  exceptional  man,  once  a  prominent  can- 
didate for  the  Presidency,  is  now  almost  for- 
gotten, but  time  has  dealt  more  kindly  with  the 
memory  of  Calhoun.  The  latter  was  in  his 
thirtieth  year  when  he  entered  the  House  in 
181 1,  a  tall,  slender,  black-robed  figure,  with 
pallid,  thin-lipped  face,  indicative  of  the  clois- 
ter ;  keen,  unresting  eyes,  and  a  mass  of  coarse, 
black  hair,  combed  up  from  the  forehead  and 
made  to  fall  over  the  back  of  his  head.  Cal- 
houn, though  not  an  eloquent  man  in  the  com- 


The  Old  Order   Changes 

mon  acceptation  of  the  term,  had  great  ability 
as  a  debater,  an  analytical  mind,  and  the  habits 
of  a  student,  coupled  with  absolute  mental  hon- 
esty ;  and  these  speedily  made  him  a  leader  in 
Congress  and  in  national  affairs.  He  sat  in  the 
House  until  1817,  and  then  for  seven  years  was 
Secretary  of  War  under  Monroe.  In  1831  he 
resigned  the  Vice-Presidency,  to  which  he  had 
been  twice  elected,  to  enter  the  Senate  from 
South  Carolina,  and  ten  years  later  became  Sec- 
retary of  State  in  Tyler's  Cabinet.  During  the 
remainder  of  his  days  he  was  again  a  Senator. 
All  his  life  he  was  a  tireless  worker,  and  Web- 
ster truly  said  of  him  that  "  he  had  no  recrea- 
tions and  never  seemed  to  feel  the  necessity  of 
amusements." 

Somewhat  out  of  place  among  his  youthful 
compeers  of  the  House  in  Madison's  time 
seemed  one  tall,  smooth-shaven,  elderly  mem- 
ber, who  wore  at  all  times  a  powdered  wig,  sur- 
mounted by  a  cocked  hat  of  colonial  pattern, 
and  a  blue  uniform  faced  with  white,  which, 
with  the  walking  rapier  swung  habitually  at  his 
side,  showed  that  the  wearer  was  one  of  the 
older  generation.  His  strong  face  and  confi- 
dent bearing  bespoke  also   the  man  who  had 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

played  a  notable  part  in  affairs,  and  visitors  to 
the  House  never  failed  to  ask  questions  about 
him.  They  were  told  that  this  unusual  figure 
was  none  other  than  John  Sevier, — he  who  had 
fought  so  well  at  King's  Mountain;  who  had 
afterwards  battled  with  such  steadfast  bravery 
against  Creek  and  Cherokee;  who  had  done 
more  than  any  other  man  to  settle  and  civilize 
the  trans-Alleghany  country;  who  had  been 
three  times  governor  of  Tennessee,  and  who 
was  now  ending  his  days  as  a  member  of  the 
House  from  the  State  he  had  helped  to  build. 
Twice  elected  to  Congress,  Colonel  Sevier  was 
returned  for  a  third  time  in  1815,  but  died  be- 
fore he  could  take  his  seat. 

Thus  Sevier's  public  career,  beginning  with 
the  first,  ended  with  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land. The  latter  struggle  was  a  troublesome 
legacy  left  by  Jefferson  to  his  successor.  Eu- 
rope's fight  against  Napoleon,  with  England  in 
the  lead,  was  then  in  progress.  The  United 
States,  in  the  face  of  the  wars  which  it  bred, 
maintained  a  strict  neutrality,  but  lack  of  an 
adecjuate  navy  placed  her  at  the  mercy  of  the 
warring  powers  and  forbade  a  proper  defence 
of  her  extensive  and  profitable  carrying  trade. 


112 


The  Old  Order  Changes 

Finally,  England,  reviving  an  ancient  rule,  pro- 
hibited neutral  ships  from  trading  with  the  de- 
pendencies of  any  nation  with  which  she  was  at 
war;  and  Napoleon  retaliated  with  decrees 
which  rendered  vessels  of  the  same  class 
trading  with  England  subject  to  seizure  and 
confiscation. 

Aggressions  upon  American  commerce  did 
not  end  there.  British  men-of-war  claimed  and 
freely  exercised  the  right  to  search  American 
ships,  and,  obedient  to  the  maxim,  "  Once  an 
Englishman  always  an  Englishman,"  take  from 
them  all  seamen  who  at  any  time  had  been  Brit- 
ish subjects.  Hundreds  of  native  Americans 
and  many  naturalized  citizens  were  thus  seized 
and  impressed,  England's  usual  excuse  being 
that  they  were  deserters  from  her  navy.  Af- 
fairs reached  a  climax  in  June.  1807,  when 
Captain  James  Barron,  of  the  American  frigate 
*'  Chesapeake,"  having  refused  to  deliver  four 
seamen  who  were  claimed  by  the  commander  of 
the  British  frigate  ''Leopard,"  the  latter  ship 
fired  upon  the  ''  Chesapeake"  while  she  was  ly- 
ing off  Norfolk,  killing  or  wounding  twenty- 
one    of   her    crew,    and    compelled    Barron   to 

deliver  the  men. 

1.-8  113 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

Jefferson  to  this  outrage  made  prompt  and 
characteristic  answer.  He  issued  a  proclama- 
tion ordering  all  British  ships  to  leave  the 
waters  of  the  United  States,  and  called  Con- 
gress in  extra  session  to  take  further  action  in 
the  matter.  That  body,  soon  after  it  met  in 
October,  1807,  at  Jefferson's  instigation,  passed 
an  act  forbidding  vessels,  foreign  or  domestic, 
to  enter  or  leave  the  ports  of  the  United  States 
save  for  the  purpose  of  coastwise  trade,  and  for 
this  an  almost  prohibitive  bond  w^as  required. 
It  was  believed  by  its  makers  that  this  severe 
measure  would  bring  England  to  terms,  since 
the  loss  of  her  lucrative  American  market 
would  lessen  her  revenues,  close  her  factories, 
and  rob  many  thousands  of  her  people  of  em- 
ployment. 

Put  to  the  test,  however,  the  Embargo  Act, 
as  it  was  called,  proved  a  two-edged  instrument. 
Though  it  dealt  England  a  heavy  blow,  she 
made  only  grudging  and  partial  reparation 
for  the  "  Chesapeake"  and  similar  outrages. 
American  ships,  on  the  other  hand,  were  driven 
into  idleness,  and  American  sailors,  now  fa- 
mous the  world  over,  were  forced  to  leave  the 
sea.     More  exasperating  still,  the  merchants  of 

IT4 


The   Old   Order   Changes 

the  North,  many  of  whom  had  been  enriched 
by  the  carrying  trade  with  the  fighting  nations 
of  Europe,  saw  their  business  and  their  capital 
meh  away,  while  their  ships  rotted  at  the  docks. 
Small  wonder,  then,  that  the  Embargo  met  with 
opposition  in  the  shipping  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, or  that  the  New  England  Federalists,  in 
and  out  of  Congress,  condemned  it  in  savage 
terms,  and  sharply  criticised  Jefferson  for  not 
suspending  it,  as  he  had  been  empowered  to  do 
whenever  he  deemed  it  advisable.  Congress  in 
the  end  set  aside  the  Embargo  for  a  Non- 
Intercourse  Act,  which  permitted  trade  with  all 
nations  except  England  and  France. 

Such  was  the  state  of  affairs  when  Madison 
became  President,  with  a  greatly  reduced  Dem- 
ocratic majority  in  Congress.  Matters  appeared 
for  a  time  to  be  on  the  mend.  The  younger 
Erskine,  fair-minded  and  conciliatory,  came  to 
Washington  as  British  minister,  and  without 
delay  effected  a  just  and  honorable  settlement 
of  existing  differences,  whereat,  restrictions  on 
British  commerce  having  been  removed,  the 
maritime  States  borrowed  fresh  courage,  and  a 
thousand  Yankee  ships  sped  across  the  Atlantic 
to  snatch  profit  from  the  new  conditions. 
"5 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

They  went,  however,  on  a  bootless  quest.  The 
Tory  premier  who  had  now  supplanted  Can- 
ning flouted  the  treaty  Erskine  had  made, 
claiming  that  the  latter  had  exceeded  his  au- 
thority, and  that  Madison  had  persuaded  him 
to  do  so  in  the  hope  that  the  British  ministry 
would  take  the  course  that  they  did.  "  Copen- 
hagen" Jackson,  as  he  was  called,  was  sent  out 
to  succeed  Erskine,  an  appointment,  of  studied 
purpose,  most  disagreeable  to  the  Washington 
government.  Madison  declined  to  deal  with 
Jackson,  and  Congress,  when  it  met  in  Novem- 
ber, 1809,  sustained  his  refusal. 

Madison's  supporters  now  brought  forward 
a  navigation  act  excluding  French  and  English 
vessels  from  American  harbors.  It  passed  the 
House,  but  was  rejected  by  the  Senate.  Control 
of  affairs  had  already  passed  from  ]\ladison's 
hands,  and  commerce,  for  the  moment,  was  left 
to  care  for  itself.  With  the  elections  of  181 1, 
British  insults  to  American  seamen  continuing, 
a  faction  came  into  power  in  Congress  who 
meant  to  have  war — and  with  England  only. 
Fresh  excuse  for  such  a  course  was  found  in  the 
disclosures  of  an  adventurer  named  Joseph 
Henry,  who,  in  February,  181 2,  appeared  at 
116 


The  Old  Order   Changes 

Washington  with  a  moving  tale  of  a  conspiracy 
by  which  New  England  was  to  be  severed  from 
the  Union  and  restored  to  the  British  crown. 

This  man,  English  by  birth,  bnt  married  to 
an  American  woman  and  familiar  with  Amer- 
ican affairs,  had  persuaded  the  governor-gen- 
eral of  Canada,  in  1809,  to  send  him  as  a 
political  spy  to  New  England,  arguing  that,  by 
reason  of  the  bitter  feeling  engendered  b}'  the 
Embargo,  he  would  find  there  materials  for  a 
successful  revolt  in  favor  of  England.  Henry 
visited  Vermont  and  New  Hampshire,  and  then 
passed  several  months  in  Boston,  regularly  send- 
ing despatches  to  his  employer  about' the  politi- 
cal situation.  It  would  appear  that  he  did  not 
find  any  secession  feeling  in  New  England, 
but  only  stout  opposition  to  the  restriction  of 
trade.  His  mission  at  an  end,  Henry  demanded 
as  compensation  a  lucrative  ofiice,  which  was 
refused  him  by  his  government.  Thus  re- 
pudiated, he  made  his  way  in  hot  anger  to 
Washington,  and  for  fifty  thousand  dollars 
sold  to  Madison  and  Monroe  all  the  papers  in 
the  case,  including  important  correspondence 
with  the  British  minister.  These  were  laid 
before  Congress  in  March,  1812. 
117 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

Though  an  ardent  lover  of  peace,  Madison, 
by  his  course  in  the  Henry  affair,  such  were  the 
party  passion  and  creduHty  of  the  time,  pulled 
down  the  last  barrier  to  war  with  England. 
Clay  and  Calhoun,  afterwards  such  bitter 
rivals,  led  the  way  to  open  hostility.  Another 
embargo  was  ordered ;  new  regiments  were 
added  to  the  regular  army,  and  the  President 
was  authorized  to  enroll  one  hundred  thousand 
volunteers  to  invade  Canada  for  the  protection 
of  sailors'  rights  and  free  trade  at  sea.  Madi- 
son, hoping  until  the  last  for  peace,  still  wa- 
vered on  the  brink  of  war ;  but  a  committee, 
headed  by  Clay,  waited  upon  him  and  told  him 
that  if  he  did  not  pronounce  for  w^ar  he  should 
not  be  renominated  for  the  Presidency  at  the 
ensuing  election. 

The  threat  worked  its  purpose,  and  on  June 
I  Madison  sent  a  confidential  message  to  Con- 
gress setting  forth  at  length  the  reasons  for  a 
declaration  of  war  against  England.  Both 
houses  sat  W'ith  closed  doors  to  consider  it. 
But  even  the  Democrats  were  of  divided  mind. 
Not  a  few  of  them  joined  hands  wath  the  Fed- 
eralists, and  John  Randolph,  then  in  the  flush 
of  his  powers,  summoned  them  all  into  requisi- 
ii8 


The  Old  Order   Changes 

tion  that  he  might  vigorously  resist  a  declara- 
tion of  war.  Endowed  with  rare  foresight,  he 
feared  the  rise  of  military  men  who,  becoming 
popular  favorites,  would  supplant  civilians  in 
the  government  of  the  country.  With  the  peo- 
ple who  bore  its  burdens,  he  argued,  should  be 
left  the  choice  between  peace  and  war;  and  his 
eloquence,  at  times,  was  that  of  a  seer.  "  Do 
not,"  said  he,  in  conclusion,  "  wage  war  against 
our  ancestral  island  where  ]Magna  Charta  was 
signed,  and  where  the  Prince  of  Orange 
achieved  his  bloodless  revolution,  wresting  the 
sword  of  persecution  from  the  hand  of  many 
kinsfs.  Our  code  of  laws  are  derived  from 
England.  We  are  heirs  of  her  noble  language. 
Let  us  help  her  to  put  down  the  Corsican  who 
is  cracking  in  his  all-devouring  jaws  the  bones 
of  Europe's  dismembered  empire.  '  We  ven- 
erate the  soil  on  which  Chaucer  opened  the 
well-springs  of  the  imagination,  where  Newton 
unveiled  the  colors  which  compose  the  rainbow 
of  peace,  and  where  Milton  added  celestial 
strings  to  the  harp  of  the  universe.  All  the 
causes  urged  for  this  war  will  be  forgotten  in 
your  treaty  of  peace,  and  possibly  this  Capitol 
may  be  reduced  to  ashes." 
119 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

Randolph  spoke  as  a  prophet,  and,  though  he 
spoke  without  avail,  there  were  many  who  were 
won  to  his  way  of  thinking.  The  Democratic 
majority  in  a  full  House  was  seventy,  but  the 
bill  for  the  declaration  of  war  was  carried  by 
a  slender  majority  of  thirty.  The  vote  in  the 
Senate  was  seventeen  to  thirteen,  six  Demo- 
crats voting  with  the  minority  to  the  end,  and 
even  then.  Senator  Bayard  declared,  it  would  not 
have  been  carried  but  for  differences  of  opinion 
among  the  Senators  on  other  proposed  meas- 
ures. 

Madison  issued  a  formal  declaration  of  war 
on  June  i8,  1812.  At  first,  as  if  in  confirma- 
tion of  the  sinister  predictions  of  Randolph  and 
his  fellow^s,  little  save  bad  news  came  to  the 
capital.  Hull,  ordered  to  invade  Canada,  was 
compelled,  instead,  to  surrender  the  important 
post  of  Detroit,  on  the  northern  frontier; 
while  an  attack  made  by  a  force  under  General 
Van  Rensselaer  on  one  of  the  British  outposts 
near  Niagara  was  repulsed  with  disastrous  loss. 
The  only  rifts  in  the  cloud  were  the  quick  and 
brilliant  victories  achieved  at  sea.  Commo- 
dores Stewart  and  Bainbridge,  happening  to 
be  in  Washington  when  war  was  declared,  had 
120 


The  Old  Order   Changes 

by  their  spirited  and  timely  arguments  induced 
the  Cabinet  to  reverse  its  proposed  pohcy  of  not 
sending  the  navy  to  sea  against  the  British ; 
and  it  was  well  that  these  gallant  officers  were 
allowed  to  have  their  way,  for  the  intrepid 
deeds  performed  by  them,  and  by  Decatur, 
Perry,  Hull,  and  others,  soon  caused  Canning 
to  declare  in  Parliament  that  American  ships 
manned  by  American  tars  had  broken  the  naval 
invincibility  of  England. 

Meanwhile,  an  exciting,  though  somewhat 
one-sided.  Presidential  campaign  was  in  prog- 
ress. Prior  to  Madison's  nomination  for  re- 
election by  a  caucus  of  Congress  DeWitt  Clin- 
ton had  been  put  forward  as  the  candidate  of 
the  war  wing  of  his  party.  Clinton  had,  in 
fact,  been  promised  the  party  nomination  in 
case  Madison  did  not  yield  to  the  demands  for 
war;  and  he  now  openly  scouted  the  sincerity 
of  the  President's  tardy  change  of  mind  and  re- 
fused to  leave  the  field.  His  nomination  by  a 
Democratic  caucus  of  the  New  York  Legislature 
was  later  endorsed  by  an  assemblage  in  New 
York  City,  the  first  gathering  of  its  kind  in  our 
history  which  closely  resembled  a  political  con- 
vention.   The  Federalists  also  formally  endorsed 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

Clinton,  but  a  portion  of  the  party  went  over  to 
Madison,  who  was  chosen  by  one  Inmdred  and 
twenty-eight  electoral  votes,  his  opponent  re- 
ceiving only  eighty-nine. 


122 


T 


CHAPTER    V 

WASHINGTON    IN    ALIEN    HANDS 

HE  wife  of  William  W.  Seaton,  editor  of 
the  National  Intelligencer,  gives  in  one 
of  her  letters  a  diverting  account  of  the  second 
inauguration  of  Madison  on  March  4,  181 3. 
''  Escorted  by  the  Alexandria,  Georgetown,  and 
city  companies,"  writes  Mrs.  Seaton,  "  the 
President  proceeded  to  the  Capitol.  Judge 
Marshall  and  the  associate  judges  preceded 
him  and  placed  themselves  in  front  of  the 
Speaker's  chair,  from  whence  the  Chief  Magis- 
trate delivered  his  inaugural  address;  but  his 
voice  was  so  low  and  the  audience  so  very  great 
that  scarcely  a  word  could  be  distinguished. 
On  concluding,  the  oath  of  office  was  admin- 
istered by  the  chief  justice,  and  the  little  man 
was  accompanied  on  his  return  to  the  palace 
by  the  multitude,  for  every  creature  that  could 
afford  twenty-five  cents  for  hack  hire  was 
present." 

Madison's  second  term  had  a  gloomy  open- 
ing.    Affairs  in  the  field  still  failed  to  prosper, 
123 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

Dearborn,  appointed  to  the  chief  command  of 
the  American  forces,  failed  in  an  attempt  to  in- 
vade Canada,  and  spoiled  past  mending  the  sol- 
dierly reputation  he  had  won  in  the  Revolution. 
The  opening  days  of  September,  1813,  brought 
the  cheering  news  of  Perry's  splendid  victory 
on  Lake  Erie,  and  a  month  later  came  de- 
spatches from  Harrison  saying  that  he  had 
fought  and  won  the  battle  of  the  Thames, — 
thus  recovering  the  territory  surrendered  by 
Hull.  These  successes,  however,  were  offset 
by  Wilkinson's  abortive  advance  on  ?^Iontreal, 
the  loss  of  Fort  George,  and  the  blockade  of  the 
Atlantic  coast,  whose  towns  Admiral  Cockburn 
and  his  sailors  robbed,  burned,  and  harried  at 
will. 

The  brilliant  naval  achievements  of  the  pre- 
vious year  were  also  wanting.  Worse  still,  at 
the  opening  of  1814 — Napoleon's  power  having 
been  broken  at  Leipsic — the  British  fleets  in 
American  waters  were  greatly  increased,  and 
it  became  evident  that  England,  with  the  vet- 
eran troops  now  at  her  command,  could,  if  she 
elected  to  do  so,  speedily  overwhelm  the  Amer- 
icans. To  no  one  was  the  threatened  peril 
clearer  than  to  Madison";  and,  when  the  British 
124 


Washington  in  Alien   Hands 

ministry  offered  to  negotiate  for  peace,  the 
offer  was  at  once  accepted,  five  commissioners 
being  appointed  to  meet  England's  representa- 
tives at  Gottingen,  for  which  Ghent  was  after- 
wards substituted.  Nor  did  the  well-fought 
battles  of  Chippewa,  Lundy's  Lane,  and  Platts- 
burg  check  the  earnest  and  growing  desire  for 
peace. 

Meanwhile,  in  the  face  of  new  conditions, 
the  President's  Cabinet  had  undergone,  or  was 
about  to  undergo,  important  changes.  Mon- 
roe still  remained  at  its  head,  but  Gallatin 
had  been  succeeded  by  Alexander  J.  Dallas  as 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  and  Granger  by 
Return  J.  Meigs,  Jr.,  as  Postmaster-General. 
Richard  Rush  had  become  Attorney-General, 
and  William  Jones  Secretary  of  the  Navy, 
while  Eustis,  hopelessly  incompetent,  had  been 
replaced  by  John  Armstrong. 

The  new  head  of  the  War  Department  was, 
in  many  ways,  a  remarkable  man.  He  had 
served  as  aide-de-camp  to  Mercer  and  Gates  in 
the  Revolution,  and  was  the  author  of  the 
famous  Newburgh  letters  written  to  excite  the 
army  against  Congress.  Later  he  had  held 
office  in  his  native  State  of  Pennsylvania;  but, 
125 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

having  married  a  sister  of  Chancellor  Living- 
ston, removed  to  New  York,  whence  he  was 
twice  sent  to  the  Federal  Senate,  leaving  that 
body  in  1804  to  become  minister  to  France,  a 
post  filled  by  him  for  a  dozen  years  with  dis- 
tinguished ability.  In  July,  1812,  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  brigadier-general,  with  command  of 
New  York  City  and  its  defences,  and  at  the 
close  of  Madison's  first  term  was  made  Secre- 
tary of  War.  It  was  his  record  as  a  diplomat 
that  made  Armstrong  a  member  of  the  Cabinet, 
but  in  the  conduct  of  his  department  he  quickly 
gave  proof  of  a  bent  for  intrigue,  a  narrow  am- 
bition, and  a  harshness  of  method  which  soon 
caused  him  to  be  distrusted,  feared,  and  hated 
by  his  chief  and  his  associates. 

Armstrong  to  qualities  like  these  added  a  dis- 
regard for  the  future  and  an  incapacity  in  the 
selection  of  instruments  that  approached  close  to 
official  imbecility.  How  close  was  shown  in 
striking  manner  when  in  June,  18 14,  word 
came  from  Gallatin,  then  in  London,  that  some 
thousands  of  troops  from  \\'ellington's  army 
were  about  to  embark  at  Bermuda  for  Chesa- 
peake Bay,  there  to  join  hands  with  Cockburn's 
blockading  squadron  in  an  aggressive  cam- 
126 


Washington   in   Alien   Hands 

paign  against  the  Americans.  Madison  seems 
to  have  been  at  once  aroused  to  the  importance 
of  adopting  effective  measures  for  the  defence 
of  the  capital;  but  Armstrong  could  not  or 
would  not  believe  that  it  was  in  danger.  "  The 
British  come  here !"  he  is  reported  to  have  said 
to  a  delegation  of  anxious  citizens.  "  What 
should  they  come  here  for?"  And  he  proceeded 
to  argue  the  utter  improbability  of  a  hostile 
force  leaving  its  fleet  and  marching  forty  miles 
inland  to  attack  a  town  presumably  well  de- 
fended. As  to  the  Potomac,  its  rocks  and 
shoals  and  devious  channels  would  prevent  any 
stranger  from  ascending  it.  "  The  British," 
Armstrong  concluded,  "  would  never  be  so  mad 
as  to  make  an  attempt  on  Washington,  and  it 
is  therefore  totally  unnecessary  to  make  any 
preparations  for  its  defence." 

Some,  however,  were  made,  in  spite  of  the 
Secretary  of  War.  The  District  of  Columbia, 
Maryland,  and  that  part  of  Virginia  north  of 
the  Rappahannock  were  created  a  military  dis- 
trict under  command  of  General  William  H. 
Winder,  who  had  performed  gallant  services  in 
the  Northwest,  and  who  had  lately  returned 
from  long  detention  as  a  prisoner  of  war  in 
127 


Washington :    The  Federal    City 

Canada.  This  officer,  taking  command  on  June 
26,  found  neither  forts  nor  guns,  and  only 
small  detachments  of  the  Thirty-sixth  and 
Thirty-eighth  Regular  Infantry  available  for 
the  defence  of  Washington.  Thirteen  regi- 
ments of  Virginia,  Pennsylvania,  and  Mary- 
land militia  had  been  drafted,  but  were  not  to 
be  called  into  active  service  until  the  enemy 
should  appear. 

Winder  entered  a  vigorous  protest  against 
this  absurd  arrangement.  He  urged  that  the 
men  should  be  called  at  once  and  placed  in  posi- 
tions between  Washington  and  the  Chesapeake, 
and  around  Baltimore,  where  they  could  be 
drilled,  disciplined,  and  massed  promptly  at  any 
threatened  point.  Winder's  protest,  however, 
passed  unheeded ;  and  great  was  the  consterna- 
tion in  Washington  when,  in  the  early  morning 
of  August  20,  a  mounted  courier  brought  news 
that  a  British  fleet,  having  on  board  three  thou- 
sand five  hundred  seasoned  soldiers  under 
General  Robert  Ross,  a  veteran  of  the  penin- 
sular campaign,  had  entered  the  Chesapeake, 
and  that  Ross,  having  effected  a  landing  at 
Benedict's  on  the  Potomac,  forty  miles  below 
Washington,  had  there  been  re-enforced  by  one 
1 28 


Washington   in   Alien   Hands 

thousand  marines  from  the  blockading  squad- 
ron, which,  first  under  Cockburn  and  after- 
wards under  Cochrane,  as  chief  in  command, 
had  for  some  time  terrorized  the  bay. 

The  British  general's  advance  up  the  penin- 
sula was  marked  by  extreme  caution.  He 
could  not,  at  first,  believe  that  the  path  was 
open  before  him  to  go  where  he  pleased,  and  all 
the  English  accounts  of  his  march  agree  that 
it  could  have  been  stopped  at  any  time  had  the 
road  been  obstructed  by  felled  trees, — a  sim- 
ple measure  of  which,  as  will  appear  presently, 
but  one  in  authority  took  thought.  In  fact, 
it  was  not  until  the  marines  commanded  by 
Cockburn  joined  Ross  that  the  resolution 
seems  to  have  been  taken  to  push  on  to  Wash- 
ington ;  and  there  is  good  reason  for  believing 
that  the  enemy's  original  plans  went  no  further 
than  the  destruction  of  Commodore  Barney's 
flotilla  of  gunboats,  which  had  been  a  constant 
annoyance  to  the  enemy  in  Chesapeake  Bay.  but 
had  now  sought  safety  in  the  upper  waters  of 
the  Patuxent.  Instead  of  sending  troops  to 
protect  these  boats,  thus  staying  Ross's  prog- 
ress at  that  point,  a  panic-stricken  Secretary  of 
the  Navy  saved  the  British  general  the  trouble 

^•— 9  129 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City  . 

of  removing  this  impediment  out  of  his  way 
by  ordering  the  fleet's  destruction  by  fire. 
Commodore  Barney  reluctantly  obeyed  this 
ill-timed  order,  and  then,  with  his  seamen  and 
marines  and  the  few  guns  that  he  could  mount, 
made  a  forced  march  across  the  peninsula  to 
Washington. 

Meantime,  there  reigned  in  the  threatened 
capital,  whence  hundreds  had  already  fled  into 
Virginia,  a  confusion  of  counsel  and  worse 
than  a  confusion  of  effort.  Winder  gave  excel- 
lent reasons  for  his  belief  that  Annapolis  was 
the  enemy's  ulterior  object.  Armstrong  stoutly 
maintained  that  the  place  to  be  attacked  was 
Baltimore.  "  They  will  strike  somewhere," 
said  he,  "  but  they  will  not  come  here,"  adding 
that  if  Ross  did,  after  all,  make  an  attack  on 
the  capital,  it  would  be  "  a  mere  Cossack  hur- 
rah," a  rapid  march  and  hasty  retreat,  coming 
as  he  did  wholly  unprepared  for  siege  and  in- 
vestment. The  Secretary  of  War's  sage  advice 
to  Winder,  should  such  an  emergency  arise, 
was  to  fall  quietly  back  to  the  Capitol,  post  his 
twenty  pieces  of  artillery  in  front  of  it,  and  fill 
the  upper  stories  of  that  and  adjacent  buildings 
with  infantry,  meanwhile  holding  his  cavalry 
130 


Washington   in    Alien    Hands 

in  reserve  for  a  charge  the  moment  a  recoil 
appeared  in  the  British  column  of  attack.  The 
only  sensible  counsel  came  from  General  Wil- 
kinson, who,  happening  to  be  in  the  city, 
urged  that  the  roads  in  the  enemy's  front 
should  be  obstructed  with  felled  trees  and  a  col- 
umn sent  to  make  a  detour  and  fall  on  his  rear, 
while  flying  parties  harassed  his  flanks,  by 
which  means  he  might  be  forced  to  take  to  his 
ships. 

None  of  these  things  w'as  done,  and  on  Au- 
gust 23  there  came  an  ominous  despatch  from 
Monroe,  who  had  gone  on  a  reconnoissance 
to  discover  the  enemy's  force  and  intentions. 
The  Secretary  of  State  wrote  that  the  Brit- 
ish were  in  full  march  towards  Washington, 
and  he  urged  that  the  records  be  removed 
and  preparations  made  to  destroy  the  bridges 
giving  access  to  the  city.  To  repel  the  attack 
thus  rendered  certain  Winder  had  from  the 
District  of  Columbia  two  regiments  of  militia 
and  volunteers ;  two  companies  of  light  artil- 
lery, having  each  six  six-pounders, — in  all 
one  thousand  and  seventy  men  under  command 
of  General  Walter  Smith,  of  Georgetown. 
Baltimore  and  its  vicinity  sent  a  brigade  of  two 
131 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

thousand  two  hundred  men  commanded  by  Gen- 
eral Joseph  Stansbury,  which  included  two 
companies  of  volunteer  artillery,  each  equipped 
with  six  six-pounders,  and  a  battalion  of  vol- 
unteer riflemen,  led  by  William  Pinkney.  Mary- 
land furnished  two  other  regiments  of  militia, 
eleven  hundred  strong,  and  Virginia  a  militia 
regiment  of  seven  hundred  men.  There  were 
besides  three  hundred  regulars  under  Lieuten- 
ant-Colonel William  Scott,  five  hundred  and 
twenty  sailors  and  marines  under  Barney,  a 
squadron  of  United  States  dragoons,  various 
companies  of  volunteers,  and  twenty-six  pieces 
of  artillery. 

It  will  be  seen  that  Winder's  hastily  gathered 
army  numbered  in  all  six  thousand  men;  but 
it  contained  only  nine  hundred  regulars  with 
which  to  oppose  the  four  thousand  five  hundred 
veterans  under  Ross.  The  latter,  from  his 
landing-place  at  Benedict's,  marched,  on  August 
20,  towards  Nottingham,  a  small  town  fifteen 
miles  farther  up  the  Patuxent,  which  he  reached 
in  the  late  afternoon  of  the  second  day. 
Early  the  next  morning  he  was  again  under 
arms,  pushing  inland  towards  Upper  Marlbor- 
ough and  Bladensburg,  but  in  such  a  way,  first 


Washington   in   Alien    Hands 

on  one  road  and  then  on  another,  as  to  conceal 
his  purpose  from  the  American  commander, 
who  had  sent  detachments  to  different  points 
to  watch  the  movements  of  the  enemy  and  give 
information. 

Soon  after  noon  of  August  22  Ross  reached 
Marlborough,  and,  after  a  twenty- four  hours' 
rest,  pushed  on  towards  Washington,  halting 
for  the  night  at  Melwood,  twelve  miles  from 
the  capital.  Breaking  camp  at  dawn  of  Au- 
gust 24,  he  came  soon  to  a  fork  of  the  road, 
one  branch  of  which  ran  northward  to  Bladens- 
burg  and  the  other  westward  to  the  bridge  over 
the  Eastern  Branch  of  the  Potomac  at  Wash- 
ington. Here  Ross  made  a  feint  of  taking  the 
latter  road,  but  no  sooner  had  his  last  column 
entered  it  than  he  reversed  front  and  marched 
along  the  Bladensburg  road  towards  that  town. 
Winder,  with  the  main  body  of  his  command, 
had  taken  position  to  dispute  the  passage  of  the 
Eastern  Branch  bridge,  but  the  enemy's  route 
being  now  apparent,  he  hurried  his  troops  to 
Bladensburg,  w'here  Stansbury's  Maryland  bri- 
gade had  already  been  posted  to  check  Ross, 
should  he  advance  in  that  direction. 

Winder  reached  Bladensburg  at  noon,  and 
"^33 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

disposed  liis  forces  in  a  rising  field,  between  the 
Washington  turnpike  and  Georgetown  post 
road;  which  here  came  together  at  an  angle  of 
forty-five  degrees.  Barney's  sailors  and  ma- 
rines, with  three  eight-pounders,  were  halted  on 
the  Washington  pike,  nearer  the  city  and  a  mile 
in  the  rear  of  the  main  forces.  The  position  se- 
lected by  Winder  was  a  commanding  one,  but 
he  had  little  confidence  in  himself  and  less  in 
his  troops.  Worse  still,  he  listened  to  the  con- 
flicting advice  on  all  sides,  and  without  remon- 
strance permitted  Monroe,  almost  at  the  last 
moment,  to  change  his  disposition  of  troops. 

Armstrong  and  Madison  were  also  on  the 
field,  the  former  giving  his  last  instructions 
and  admonitions  to  the  now  bewildered  general. 
As  the  enemy's  advance  came  into  sight,  with 
bayonets  glistening,  drums  beating,  and  stand- 
ards waving,  the  President,  wdio  had  previously 
occupied  himself  with  pencilled  bulletins  to  his 
wife  at  Washington,  urging  her  to  flight,  turned 
to  his  comrades,  so  Wilkinson  asserts,  and 
said,  "  Come,  General  Armstrong,  come.  Colo- 
nel Monroe,  let  us  go,  and  leave  it  to  the 
commanding  general."  Whereupon  they  all 
clambered  into  a  waiting  carriage  and  drove 
134 


Washington    in   Alien    Hands 

rapidly  away  in  the  direction  of  Washington. 
Much  sport  was  afterwards  made  of  this  retreat 
of  the  President  and  his  Cabinet  from  the  field 
of  battle ;  and  a  New  York  newspaper  declared 
that  should  some  Walter  Scott  of  a  later  cen- 
tury pen  a  poem  on  the  battle  of  Bladensburg, 
he  might  fittingly  conclude  with  the  lines, — 

"  Fly,  Monroe,   fly  !     Run,  Armstrong,  run  ! 
Were  the  last  words  of  Madison." 

It  mattered  little,  however,  to  whom  at  the 
twelfth  hour  was  left  the  issue  of  the  battle, 
for  neither  Winder  nor  any  one  else  could  hope 
with  five  thousand  raw  recruits  to  defeat  almost 
as  many  seasoned  soldiers  and  marines.  As 
the  Congreve  rockets  fired  by  the  British  burst 
in  the  faces  of  the  volunteers  and  militia,  the 
latter,  dismayed  by  those  then  novel  and  there- 
fore terrible  instruments  of  warfare,  broke  and 
fled,  nor  could  their  officers  again  rally  them  to 
the  attack. 

The  only  real  resistance  to  the  enemy's  ad- 
vance was  made  by  Barney  and  his  rear-guard 
of  five  hundred  and  twenty  men,  who,  with  their 
artillery,  cut  great  gaps  in  the  advancing  Brit- 
ish column  and  compelled  it  to  give  way.  For 
135 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

more  than  an  hour  this  small  band  of  sailors 
and  marines  held  their  opponents  at  bay,  and 
had  the  least  support  been  given  them  might 
have  turned  the  fortunes  of  the  day;  but  the 
only  body  of  militia  that  covered  their  flank 
and  had  not  already  run  away  fled  at  the  first 
charge.  Barney's  men,  thus  exposed,  were  sur- 
rounded, and,  with  the  leader  and  second  in 
command  both  severely  wounded,  were  com- 
pelled at  last  to  surrender.  Around  them  lay 
as  many  dead  and  wounded  of  the  enemy  as  the 
sailors  and  marines  had  numbered  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  fight. 

This  ended  the  battle.  Armstrong  again 
urged  that  a  force  be  thrown  into  the  Capitol, 
but  even  this  was  no  longer  practicable,  and 
the  broken  army,  fleeing  by  twos  and  threes 
through  the  city,  sought  refuge  on  the  farther 
side  of  the  Potomac.  The  President  and  the 
heads  of  the  departments  had  made  their  escape 
in  advance  of  the  retreating  troops,  but  not  be- 
fore the  Secretary  of  the  Navy  had  ordered 
that  the  navy-yard  below  the  city  should  be  set 
on  fire.  The  flames  thus  kindled  lighted  the 
way  for  Ross  and  his  army,  which,  after  a  rest 
of  several  hours,  marched  into  the  city  in  the 
136 


Washington   in   Alien    Hands 

early  evening,  and  made  their  way,  without 
check,  to  the  Capitol  grounds. 

The  British  troopers  at  first  contented  them- 
selves with  firing  volleys  into  the  windows  of 
the  Capitol,  but  at  length,  with  Ross  and  Cock- 
burn  at  their  head,  forced  their  way  into  the 
hall  of  the  House.  As  his  followers  filled  the 
apartment,  Cockburn,  according  to  one  of  the 
stories  of  the  time,  leaped  into  the  Speaker's 
chair  and  shouted,  "  Shall  this  harbor  of  Yan- 
kee democracy  be  burned  ?  All  for  it  will  say 
Ay."  Loud  cries'  of  assent  answering  his 
question,  he  reversed  it,  pronounced  it  carried, 
and  the  mock  resolution  was  executed  by 
rockets  and  other  combustibles  applied  to  the 
chairs  and  furniture  heaped  up  in  the  centre  of 
the  room,  and  fired  wherever  there  was  a  fit 
place.  The  temporary  wooden  structure  con- 
necting the  two  wings  readily  kindled ;  every- 
thing that  would  take  fire,  including  the  library 
and  its  contents  in  an  upper  story  of  the  Senate 
wing,  disappeared  in  sheets  of  flames;  and  at 
the  end  of  an  hour  only  the  walls  were  left  of 
the  beautiful  structure  that  had  been  half  a  life- 
time in  building. 

The  Capitol  a  lurid  ruin,  the  British,  with 
137 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

Ross  and  Cockburn  still  at  their  head,  pushed 
on  to  the  White  House  in  the  hope  of  capturing 
the  President  and  his  wife.  Finding  no  one, 
the  torch  was  applied  to  the  mansion  and  its 
contents.  Next  the  Treasury  building  was 
fired,  and  then  the  invaders  went  into  camp 
for  the  night  on  Capitol  Hill.  In  the  morning 
the  work  of  destruction  was  resumed,  nothing 
being  spared,  save  the  Patent  Office  and  jail, 
that  could  be  considered  public  property  or 
could  be  put  to  public  use.  A  squad  of  soldiers 
and  sailors  was  at  the  same  time  sent  to  the 
navy-yard,  which,  as  already  stated,  had  by 
order  of  Secretary  Jones  been  partially  de- 
stroyed, along  with  one  or  more  war-ships  ly- 
ing in  the  river.  The  destruction  thus  begun 
was  completed  by  the  British,  wdio  suffered  a 
heavy  loss  in  killed  and  wounded  from  the  acci- 
dental firing  of  a  dry  well  filled  with  munitions 
of  war.  The  office  of  the  National  Intelli- 
gencer was  also  glutted, — this  by  the  order  of 
Cockburn,  whose  practices  along  the  coast  had 
been  severely  denounced  by  its  editor.  "  Be 
sure,"  said  Cockburn,  "  that  all  the  C's  are  de- 
stroyed, so  that  the  rascals  can  have  no  further 
means  of  abusing  me  as  they  have  done." 


Washington   in   Alien   Hands 

Greater  damage  would,  no  doubt,  have  been 
inflicted  upon  the  defenceless  capital  but  for  a 
cyclone  that  burst  upon  it  in  the  afternoon  of 
August  25.  "  Roofs  of  houses,"  writes  one  of 
the  invaders,  "  were  torn  off  and  carried  up 
into  the  air  like  sheets  of  paper,  while  the 
rain  which  accompanied  it  was  as  the  rushing 
of  a  mighty  cataract.  This  lasted  for  two 
hours  without  intermission,  during  which  time 
many  of  the  houses  spared  by  us  were  blown 
down,  and  thirty  of  our  men,  with  as  many 
more  of  the  inhabitants,  buried  beneath  the 
ruins." 

The  elements  did  not  furnish  the  only  cause 
for  uneasiness  on  the  part  of  the  British  com- 
mander. Rumors  spread  through  his  camp  as 
the  day  wore  on  that  an  army  twelve  thou- 
sand strong  was  on  its  way  from  \^irginia  to 
recapture  the  city,  and  as  soon  as  darkness  fell 
orders  were  given  for  the  British  to  retire, 
which  they  did  with  the  utmost  caution  and 
without  beat  of  drum,  leaving  their  camp-fires 
burning  brightly,  lest  they  should  be  pursued, 
and  not  waiting  to  bury  their  dead  or  care  for 
their  wounded.  Philip  Freneau  thus  describes 
their  arrival  and  exit : 

139 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

"  A  veteran  host  by  veterans  led, 
With  Ross  and  Cockburn  at  their  head, 
They  came,  they  saw,  they  burned,  and  fled !" 

Ross  regained  his  ships  without  serious 
molestation  on  August  29.  Meanwhile,  3  part 
of  the  British  fleet  had  pushed  up  the  river  to 
Alexandria,  which  capitulated,  August  28,  on 
humiliating  terms.  Captain  Gordon,  the  officer 
in  command  of  the  expedition,  states  that  Fort 
Washington — lately  erected  under  the  direction 
of  Major  L'Enfant  and  capable  of  stout  de- 
fence— was  abandoned  and  the  magazine  blown 
up  by  the  garrison  without  firing  a  gun, — thus 
clearing  the  way  for  his  ships  to  reach  Alexan- 
dria; and  that  he  took  from  there  seventy-one 
vessels  loaded  with  flour,  tobacco,  cotton,  wine, 
sugar,  and  other  valuable  merchandise.  With 
little  damage,  despite  all  that  could  be  done  to 
oppose  them,  the  enemy  escaped  with  their 
booty.  Their  next  move  was  an  unsuccessfid 
attempt  upon  Baltimore,  where  at  the  battle  of 
North  Point,  on  September  12,  General  Ross 
received  a  wound  in  the  breast  from  which 
he  died  while  on  his  way  to  the  water-side  for 
re-embarkation. 

The  value  of  the  public  property  destroyed 
140 


Washington   in   Alien   Hands 

by  the  British  troops  during  this  three  weeks* 
campaign  was  estimated  at  two  milHon  dollars, 
and  that  of  the  private  property  burned  and 
captured  at  one-half  of  that  sum.  It  is  proper, 
however,  to  observe  that  the  burning  of  the 
public  buildings  at  Washington  caused  as  right- 
eous anger  in  England  as  it  did  in  America. 
"  Willingly,"  said  the  London  Statcsiium, 
"  would  we  throw  a  veil  of  oblivion  over  our 
transactions  at  Washington.  The  Cossacks 
spared  Paris,  but  we  spared  not  the  capital  of 
America."  The  Liverpool  Mercury,  at  the 
close  of  a  long  denunciatory  article,  declared 
that  "  if  the  people  of  the  United  States  retain 
any  portion  of  that  spirit  with  which  they  suc- 
cessfully contended  for  their  independence, 
the  effect  of  these  flames  will  not  be  easily  ex- 
tinguished." And  in  the  House  of  Commons 
the  burning  of  Washington  was  stigmatized  as 
"  of  any  enterprise  recorded  in  the  annals  of 
war,  the  one  which  most  exasperated  the  people 
and  least  weakened  the  government." 

One  of  the  few  Americans  who  acted  a  cred- 
itable part  in  the  incidents  attending  the  cap- 
ture of  the  capital  was  the  wife  of  the  Presi- 
dent,  whose  journal   yields  a  vivid   picture  of 
141 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

those  trying  days.  Mrs.  Madison's  journal 
was  kept  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to  her  sister. 
It  was  written  in  the  White  House,  bears  date 
Tuesday,  August  2;^,  18 14,  and  runs  as  fol- 
lows : 

"  Dear  Sister, — My  husband  left  me  yes- 
terday morning  to  join  General  Winder.  He 
inquired  anxiously  whether  I  had  courage  to 
remain  in  the  Presidential  house  till  his  return, 
and  on  my  assurance  that  I  had  no  fear  but  for 
him  and  the  success  of  our  army,  he  left  me, 
beseeching  me  to  take  care  of  myself  and  of 
the  Cabinet  papers,  public  and  private.  I  have 
since  received  two  despatches  from  him,  writ- 
ten with  a  pencil.  The  last  is  alarming,  because 
he  desires  that  I  should  be  ready  at  a  moment's 
warning  to  enter  my  carriage  and  leave  the 
city;  that  the  enemy  seemed  stronger  than  had 
been  reported,  and  that  it  might  happen  that 
they  would  reach  the  city  with  intention  to  de- 
stroy it.  ...  I  am  accordingly  ready.  I  have 
pressed  as  many  Cabinet  papers  into  trunks  as 
to  fill  one  carriage.  Our  private  property  must 
be  sacrificed,  as  it^  is  impossible  to  procure 
wagons  for  its  transportation.  I  am  deter- 
142 


Washington   in   Alien    Hands 

mined  not  to  go  myself  until  I  see  Mr.  Madison 
safe,  and  he  can  accompany  me,  as  I  hear  of 
much  hostility  towards  him.  .  .  .  Disaffection 
stalks  around  us.  .  .  .  My  friends  are  all 
gone;  even  Colonel  C,  with  his  hundred  men, 
who  were  stationed  as  a  guard  in  this  enclosure. 
French  John  (a  faithful  servant),  with  his 
usual  activity  and  resolution,  offers  to  spike  the 
cannon  at  the  gate,  and  to  lay  a  train  of  powder 
which  would  blow  up  the  British  should  they 
enter  the  house.  To  the  last  proposition  I  posi- 
tively object,  without  being  able,  however,  to 
make  him  understand  wdiy  all  advantages  in 
war  may  not  be  taken. 

"  IVednesday  uiornuig,  tzvelve  o'clock. — 
Since  sunrise  I  have  been  turning  my  spy-glass 
in  every  direction,  and  watching  with  wearied 
anxiety,  hoping  to  discern  the  approach  of  my 
dear  husband  and  his  friends ;  but,  alas !  I  can 
descry  only  groups  of  military  wandering  in 
all  directions,  as  if  there  were  a  lack  of  arms 
or  spirit  to  fight  for  their  own  firesides ! 

"  Three    o'clock. — Will    you    believe    it,    my 

dear  sister,   we  have  had  a  battle  or  skirmish 

near   Bladensburg,   and   I   am   still  here  within 

sound  of  the  cannon !     Mr.  Madison  comes  not. 

143 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

May  God  protect  him !  Two  messengers,  cov- 
ered vvitli  dust,  come  to  bid  me  flee;  Imt  I 
wait  for  him.  ...  At  this  late  hour  a  wagon 
has  been  procured ;  I  have  had  it  filled  with  the 
plate  and  most  valuable  portable  articles  be- 
longing to  the  house.  Whether  it  will  reach  its 
destination,  the  Bank  of  Maryland,  or  fall  into 
the  hands  of  British  soldiery,  events  must  de- 
termine. Our  good  friend,  Mr.  Carroll,  has 
come  to  hasten  my  departure,  and  he  is  in  a 
very  bad  humor  with  me,  because  I  insist  on 
waiting  until  the  large  picture  of  General 
Washington  is  secured,  and  it  requires  to  be  un- 
screwed from  the  wall.  This  process  was 
found  too  tedious  for  these  perilous  moments; 
I  have  ordered  the  frame  to  be  broken  and  the 
canvas  taken  out.  It  is  done,  and  the  precious 
portrait  is  placed  in  the  hands  of  two  gentlemen 
of  New  York  for  safe-keeping.  And  now, 
dear  sister,  I  must  leave  this  house,  or  the  re- 
treating army  will  make  me  a  prisoner  in  it.  by 
filling  up  the  road  I  am  directed  to  take.  .  .  . 
Where  I  shall  be  to-morrow  I  cannot  tell." 

Much    that    is    misleading   has   been    written 
and  printed  about  the  saving  of  Washington's 
144 


Washington   in    Alien    Hands 

portrait  to  which  Mrs.  Madison  alludes  in  this 
letter.  The  truth  is  that  on  Tuesday  afternoon 
George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  anxious  for 
the  safety  of  the  picture,  came  from  his  home  at 
Arlington  to  inquire  what  could  be  done  to  se- 
cure its  preservation.  Mrs.  Madison  assured 
him  that  it  would  be  cared  for,  and,  in  the  anx- 
ious moments  which  preceded  flight,  she  did 
not  forget  her  promise.  John  Siousa,  known 
as  French  John,  the  door-keeper  at  the  White 
House,  and  Magraw,  the  gardener,  broke  the 
frame  on  the  dining-room  wall  as  their  mistress 
directed,  secured  the  treasured  portrait,  and 
despatched  it  l^y  wagon  to  a  house  near  George- 
town. The  portrait's  safety  assured,  Mrs.  Madi- 
son entered  her  carriage  and  was  rapidly  driven 
away  in  the  direction  of  Georgetown.  When 
the  British  were  gone  it  was  brought  from  its 
hiding-place,  and  now  hangs  in  the  East  Room 
of  the  White  House. 

The  scribblers  v.dio  made  merry  over  Aladi- 
son's  retreat  found  equal  food  for  mirth  in 
his  wife's  hasty  departure  from  the  White 
House,  and  a  parody  of  John  Gilpin's  Ride" 
thus  set  forth  her  supposed  address  to  her  hus- 
band : 

I.-io  145 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

"  Sister  Cutts  and  Cutts  and  I 
And  Cutts's  children  three 
Will  fill  the  coach. — and  you   must  ride 
On  horseback  after  we." 

But  at  the  time  tliere  was  little  comedy  in  the 
situation  to  those  who  sliared  its  anxiety  and 
its  real  or  fancied  perils.  Mrs.  Madison's  ad- 
ventures bear  witness  of  this  fact.  Learning 
before  she  reached  Georgetown  that  the  British 
had  not  yet  entered  the  capital,  she  ordered  her 
coachman  to  return  towards  the  White  House 
in  the  hope  of  finding  the  President.  Great  was 
her  joy  when  she  beheld  him  on  horseback, 
accompanied  by  several  gentlemen,  on  his  way 
from  the  White  House,  whither  he  had  gone 
to  assure  himself  of  her  safety.  He,  like  hun- 
dreds of  others,  was  a  fugitive  seeking  a  place 
of  refuge.  Accompanying  him  and  his  party  to 
the  river,  wdiere  they  embarked  for  the  Virginia 
shore,  she  set  off  for  the  house  of  a  friend  just 
across  the  river  from  Georgetown,  where  she 
spent  the  night  watching  the  flames  circling 
about  the  Capitol  and  the  White  House. 

Before  daybreak  on  Thursday  Mrs.  Madison 

set  out  for  the  rendezvous  appointed  the  night 

before  by  her  husband.     So  crowded  was  the 

roadway    with    retreating    troops,    horses,    and 

146 


Washington   in   Alien    Hands 


'b 


wagons  that  she  was  again  and  again  compelled 
to  leave  the  carriage  and  tramp  through  the 
heat  and  dust,  elbowed  by  soldiers  and  negroes, 
who  rudely  pushed  her  aside  and  insulted  her 
with  coarse  and  angry  remarks.  Thoroughly 
exhausted  with  the  hardships  she  had  under- 
gone, it  was  not  until  late  in  the  afternoon  that 
she  reached  the  appointed  place  of  meeting, — 
a  small  tavern  about  sixteen  miles  from  Wash- 
ington. The  President  had  not  arrived,  and  his 
wife  was  at  first  refused  entrance.  In  truth,  it 
was  only  the  breaking  of  the  storm  referred  to 
in  another  place  that  finally  induced  those  who 
had  taken  refuge  in  the  house — fugitives  from 
the  city  who  declared  that  the  wife  of  the  man 
who  had  brought  such  misery  upon  them 
should  not  be  sheltered  under  the  same  roof — 
to  grant  her  admission. 

As  night  fell  the  President  and  his  party 
appeared,  hungry  and  exhausted.  Madison 
broke  his  long  fast,  and  then  sought  needed 
rest,  only  to  be  aroused  at  midnight  by  a  mes- 
senger with  tidings  that  a  party  of  the  enemy 
had  discovered  his  hiding-place  and  were  upon 
his  track.  Once  more  he  was  compelled  to 
face  the  storm,  and  to  find  refuge  in  the  hut 
147 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

of  a  forester,  where  he  spent  the  remainder 
of  the  night.  Early  Friday  morning  Mrs. 
Madison,  having,  obedient  to  a  promise  to 
her  husband,  adopted  a  disguise,  left  her  car- 
riage behind  and  continued  her  flight,  accom- 
panied only  by  a  civilian  and  a  single  soldier. 
On  the  way  a  courier  overtook  her  with  the 
news  that  the  British  had  withdrawn  from  the 
city,  and  with  lightened  heart  she  began  the 
return  journey  to  the  capital.  When  she 
reached  the  Long  Bridge  across  the  Potomac 
she  found  it  burned  from  end  to  end.  The  offi- 
cer in  charge  of  the  only  ferry-boat  plying  the 
river  refused  to  transport  her  until  she  dis- 
closed her  identity.  Then  she  was  allowed  to 
cross,  and,  disguised  and  in  a  strange  carriage, 
entered  Washington  to  find  the  mansion  she 
had  left  only  two  days  before  a  smoking  ruin. 
The  house  of  her  sister,  who  was  living  in  the 
city,  became  her  temporary  home,  and  here  the 
President  soon  joined  her,  not  to  separate  from 
her  again. 

The  wheels  of  government  were  without  de- 
lay again  put  in  motion,  ^^"ith  equal  prompt- 
ness a  scapegoat  was  found  for  the  disgrace  and 

loss  that  had  been  inflicted  upon  the  country. 

148 


Washington   in   Alien    Hands 

The  blame  for  the  capital's  unguarded  condi- 
tion rested  most  heavily  upon  the  shoulders  of 
Armstrong,  the  Secretary  of  War.  It  was 
Armstrong  who  a  year  before  had  ordered  the 
destruction  by  American  troops  of  the  town  of 
Newark  in  Canada,  a  causeless  act  of  cow- 
ardice and  villany,  which,  it  was  believed, 
had  prompted  the  ])urning  of  Washington. 
Madison,  on  August  29,  peremptorily  de- 
manded his  resignation,  and  the  next  morning 
Armstrong  left  the  capital.  He  did  not  die 
until  thirty  years  later,  but  never  again  held 
public  office. 


149 


CHAPTER    VI 

THE    RETURN    OF    PEACE 

FOR  Upward  of  a  year  following"  the  burn- 
ing of  the  White  House  President  Madi- 
son, by  generous  tender  of  its  owner,  had  his 
home  in  the  Octagon,  an  imposing  house  which 
still  stands  in  good  preservation  at  the  northeast 
corner  of  New  York  Avenue  and  Eighteenth 
Street.  This  house  was  begun  by  Colonel  John 
Tayloe  in  1798,  and  occupied  in  1801,  the  3^ear 
following  that  in  which  the  government  removed 
from  Philadelphia  to  Washington.  It  had  been 
his  intention  to  build  a  winter  residence  in  the 
former  city,  but  he  changed  his  plans  at  the  ear- 
nest request  of  Washington,  who  perceived  that 
he  would  make  a  valuable  addition  to  the  so- 
ciety of  the  new  capital,  and  who  took  the 
greatest  interest  in  the  progress  of  the  building. 
Colonel  Tayloe  was  counted  the  richest  Vir- 
ginian of  his  time.  His  estate  at  Mount  Airy 
was  the  largest  in  the  Old  Dominion,  and 
among  his  five  hundred  slaves  were  artisans  of 
every  class.  His  hospitality  was  lavish,  his 
150 


The   Return   of  Peace 

guests  the  most  eminent  men  of  the  period. 
This  magnificence  was  transferred  to  his 
Washington  house  during  the  winter  months, 
and  until  his  death,  in  1828,  the  Octagon  was 
the  centre  of  all  that  was  most  brilliant  and 
refined  in  unofficial  society. 

Not  less  brilliant  was  its  history  while  the  cen- 
tre of  official  society.  The  President  and  his 
wife  found  it  a  house  worthy  of  such  occupants. 
Its  circular  entrance  hall,  marble-tiled,  was 
heated  by  two  picturesque  stoves  placed  in 
small  recesses  in  the  wall.  Another  hall  beyond 
opened  into  a  spacious  and  lovely  garden  sur- 
rounded by  a  high  brick  wall  after  the  English 
fashion.  To  the  right  was  a  handsome  draw- 
ing-room with  a  fine  mantel,  before  which  Airs. 
Madison  was  accustomed  to  stand  to  receive 
her  guests.  To  the  left  was  a  dining-room  of 
equal  size  and  beauty.  A  circular  room  over 
the  hall,  with  windows  to  the  floor  and  a  hand- 
some fireplace,  was  President  Madison's  office. 
Here  he  received  his  Cabinet  officers  and  other 
men  of  note,  listening  to  their  opinions  and  re- 
ports on  the  progress  of  the  war;  and  here, 
also,  on  a  quaintly  carved  taljle  now  in  the 
Corcoran  Art  Gallery,  he  signed,  February  18, 
151 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

1815,  the  proclamation  of  the  Treaty  of  Ghent, 
which  ended  the  contest  with  England,  and 
had,  in  fact,  been  in  process  of  making  when  the 
battle  of  Bladensburg  was  fought. 

Nowhere  was  the  return  of  peace,  news  of 
which  preceded  by  several  weeks  the  formal  rati- 
fication of  this  treaty,  hailed  with  such  lively 
joy  as  in  Washington.  National  salutes  were 
fired ;  the  public  buildings  were  draped  with 
flags,  and  at  night  countless  bonfires  and 
rockets  lighted  up  the  sky  which  a  few  months 
before  had  reflected  the  flames  of  the  Capitol 
and  the  White  House.  The  Octagon  was,  of 
course,  the  centre  of  all  the  joyous  excitement; 
and  one  who  shared  the  rejoicings  within  its 
walls  has  left  a  diverting  account,  "couched  in 
the  stilted  sentences  of  the  period,  of  the  delight 
with  which  the  news  of  peace  was  received 
there.  From  darkness  until  midnight  of  the  day 
on  which  the  peace  messenger  reached  W^ashing- 
ton  Mrs.  Madison's  drawing-room  was  crowded 
to  its  full  capacity. 

"And  what  a  scene  it  was!"  exclaims  our 
author.  "  Among  the  members  present  were 
gentlemen  of  opposite  politics,  but  lately  ar- 
rayed against  one  another  in  continued  conflict 
152 


The   Return   of  Peace 

and  fierce  debate,  now  with  elated  spirits  thank- 
ing God,  and  with  softened  hearts  cordially 
felicitating  one  another  upon  the  joyful  intelli- 
gence which  should  re-establish  peace.  But  the 
most  conspicuous  object  in  the  room,  the  ob- 
served of  all  observers,  was  Mrs.  Madison  her- 
self. .  .  .  No  one  could  doubt,  who  beheld  the 
radiance  of  joy  which  lighted  up  her  counte- 
nance and  diffused  its  beam  around,  that  all 
uncertainty  was  at  an  end,  and  that  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  country  had,  in  very  truth, 
passed  from  gloom  to  glory.  With  a  grace 
all  her  own,  to  her  visitors  she  reciprocated 
heartfelt  congratulations  upon  the  glorious 
and  happy  change  in  the  aspect  of  public  af- 
fairs ;  dispensing  with  liberal  hand  to  every 
individual  the  proverbial  hospitalities  of  the 
house." 

Not  even  the  White  House  servants  were 
forgotten  in  the  general  merry-making.  Sally 
Coles,  Mrs.  Madison's  cousin,  rushed  to  the  head 
of  the  basement  stairs  shouting,  "  Peace !  Peace !" 
John  Freeman,  the  butler,  was  ordered  to  serve 
out  wine  freely  in  the  servants'  hall ;  Paul 
Jennings,  Madison's  faithful  slave,  played  the 
"  President's  March"  on  his  fiddle,  and  French 
153 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

John  drank  so  freely  as  to  render  him  unfit  for 
active  service  for  several  days.  A  few  evenings 
later  a  grand  concert  was  given  l)y  "  Seignior" 
Pucci.  under  the  patronage  of  the  prominent 
society  leaders  of  Washington,  "  on  the  much 
admired  and  fashionable  King  David's  pedal 
harp,"  on  which  were  performed  a  series  of 
selections  adapted  to  the  public  mind  and  in- 
cluding a  medley  of  the  national  airs  of  Eng- 
land and  America. 

Subsequent  discovery  that  the  Treaty  of 
Ghent  w'as  silent  regarding  most  of  the  causes 
of  the  war  dampened  in  a  measure,  but  did  not 
quench,  the  universal  joy  at  the  restoration  of 
peace.  The  President's  official  shortcomings 
were  forgiven,  if  not  forgotten;  and  more 
truly  than  ever  was  it  said  that  Mrs.  Madison 
was  the  most  popular  person  in  the  United 
States,  beloved  alike  by  high  and  low.  Her  re- 
ceptions were  more  brilliant  than  those  of  for- 
mer days  in  the  White  House,  and  the  social 
splendor  of  the  "  peace  winter"  was  recalled 
for  years  in  the  annals  of  Washington. 

One  of  its  best  remembered  features  was  the 
visit  of  General  Andrew  Jackson,  who,  after 
the  treaty  of  peace  was  signed,  had  fought  and 
154 


The   Return   of  Peace 

won  the  battle  of  New  Orleans.  He  at  once 
became  the  chief  lion  of  society,  and  many  din- 
ners were  given  in  his  honor  at  the  President's 
house.  The  most  prominent  people  of  Wash- 
ington made  haste  to  pay  him  their  respects,  and 
his  stay  at  the  capital  was  marked  by  a  series  of 
balls  and  levees,  at  which  the  general  gave  evi- 
dence of  the  courteous  and  agreeable  manners 
that  seemed  difficult  of  explanation  by  anything 
in  his  earlier  career,  and  that  later  caused 
Josiah  Ouincy  to  declare  him  essentially  ''  a 
knightly  personage, — prejudiced,  narrow,  mis- 
taken on  many  points,  it  might  be.  but  vigor- 
ously a  gentleman  in  his  high  sense  of  honor 
and  in  the  natural  straightforward  courtesies 
which  are  easily  distinguished  from  the  veneer 
of  policy." 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  Congress  when  it  met 
in  special  session  in  September,  1814,  was, 
despite  a  determined  effort  to  secure  the  re- 
moval of  the  capital  to  some  other  point,  to  vote 
money  for  the  rebuilding  of  the  White  House 
amd  the  Capitol.  The  work  of  restoring  and 
refurnishing  the  former,  at  a  round  cost  of 
three  hundred  thousand  dollars,  was  pushed 
with    energy    by    H(^ban.    tlie    architect    of    the 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

original  building,  and  on  January  2,  181 8,  the 
National  Intelligencer  was  able  to  say, — 

"  The  President's  House  for  the  first  time 
since  its  restoration  was  thrown  open  yesterday 
for  the  general  reception  of  visitors.  It  was 
thronged  from  twelve  to  three  o'clock  by  an  im- 
mense concourse  of  ladies  and  gentlemen,  among 
whom  were  to  be  found  the  foreign  ministers, 
heads  of  departments,  Senators  and  Represent- 
atives, and  others  of  our  distinguished  citizens, 
residents  and  strangers.  It  was  gratifying  to 
be  able  to  salute  the  President  of  the  United 
States  with  the  compliments  of  the  season  in 
his  appropriate  residence." 

Benjamin  Henry  Latrobe,  the  very  capable 
architect  who  had  previously  been  in  charge  of 
the  Capitol,  was  employed  to  reconstruct  it. 
His  account  of  the  state  in  which  he  found  the 
building  is  most  interesting.  "  The  appearance 
of  the  ruins,"  to  use  his  own  words,  "  was  per- 
fectly terrifying."  In  the  halls  supported  by 
columns  the  fire  had  eaten  into  and  around  the 
stone  composing  them,  so  that  in  some  cases 
only  a  few  inches  of  contact  was  left.  Sawed 
and  hewed  timber  was  not  readily  to  be  had, 
and,  as  a  novel  expedient,  cordwood  piled 
156 


The   Return   of  Peace 

closely  from  floor  to  ceiling  was  used  to  make 
it  safe  for  the  workmen  to  take  down  the  pillars 
and  entablature. 

Latrobe  says,  however,  that  many  important 
parts  of  the  Capitol  were  wholly  uninjured. 
The  picturesque  entrance  to  the  hall  of  the 
House,  the  corn  capitals  of  the  Senate  vestibule, 
the  great  staircase,  and  the  vaults  of  the  Senate 
chamber  were  entirely  free  of  any  injury  which 
could  not  be  easily  repaired.  Some  of  the  com- 
mittee-rooms of  the  south  wing  were  not  even 
soiled,  but  in  general  the  wood-work  w^as  burnt 
in  patches.  A  party  of  the  British  were  the 
whole  night  setting  fire  separately  to  every  door 
and  window  with  their  rockets,  while  chairs, 
desks,  and  other  combustible  materials  were  col- 
lected in  the  Supreme  Court  room,  in  order 
that  the  destruction  of  this  hall  of  justice, 
where  Marshall  and  his  associates  sat,  might  be 
complete. 

Latrobe's  connection  with  the  Capitol  ended 
in  November,  1817;  but  to  him  belongs  the 
honor  of  having  planned,  built,  and  rebuilt  the 
old  south  wing,  of  having  rebuilt  the  old 
north  wing,  and  of  having  designed  the  rotunda 
and  the  centre  structure.  He  designed  and 
157 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

constructed  the  old  Hall  of  Representatives, 
and  reconstructed  the  old  Senate  chamber  and 
Supreme  Court  room,  with  their  lobbies  and 
vestibules.  The  allegorical  figure  of  History 
in  the  Car  of  Time,  recording  the  acts  (jf  the 
legislative  body  of  the  nation,  placed  over  the 
entrance  of  the  old  Hall,  is  also  his  design. 
The  rotunda,  old  library,  and  other  parts  un- 
finished at  the  time  of  Latrobe's  resisrnation, 
by  reason  of  differences  with  his  superiors,  were 
completed  by  his  successor,  Charles  Bulfinch,  an 
eminent  architect  of  Boston,  whose  dome,  which 
was  much  higher  than  the  one  proposed  by  La- 
trobe,  has  since  been  replaced  by  the  still  loftier 
one  of  Walter.  When  Bulfinch  took  charge  of 
the  building  all  that  part  now  covered  by  the 
old  Congressional  library,  rotunda,  and  central 
porticos  was  a  mass  of  earth,  rubbish,  and  old 
foundation.  The  foundations  of  the  basement 
story  were  broadened  and  the  ground-floor 
strengthened  with  arches.  Latrobe's  general 
plans  were  followed  by  Bulfinch,  save  in  the 
western  projection  of  the  centre,  which  was 
constructed  after  a  plan  of  his  own. 

Latrobe,  as  already  stated,  designed  the  ro- 
tunda, but  its  execution  was  the  work  of  his 
15S 


The   Return    of  Peace 

successor,  after  drawings  by  himself.  Bulfinch's 
artistic  taste  was  also  conspicuously  shown  in  his 
arranofement  to  remedy  a  mistake  in  the  loca- 
tion  of  the  building,  it  having  been  placed  too 
far  west,  so  as  to  overhang  the  brow  of  Capitol 
Hill  instead  of  resting  upon  its  level  summit. 
The  western  front  thus  exhibiting  a  story  lower 
than  the  eastern,  he  covered  this  exposed  base- 
ment with  the  semicircular  glacis  and  sloping 
terraces  which  render  the  western  approach 
grand  and  striking  in  the  highest  degree.  Bul- 
finch  completed  his  labors  in  1830,  and  until 
185 1   the  Capitol  remain  unchanged. 

The  old  Senate  chamber  and  the  old  Hall  of 
Representatives,  which  Latrobe  made  notable 
examples  of  pure  classical  symmetry  and  beauty, 
were  used  for  legislative  purposes  for  nearly  half 
a  century.  The  old  Senate  chamber,  now  occu- 
pied by  the  Supreme  Court,  is  semicircular  in 
form,  seventy-five  feet  long  and  forty-five  feet 
in  width  and  height.  The  interior  of  a  small 
dome  forms  its  ceiling;  and  at  the  back  of  the 
chamber  is  a  wide  arch  upheld  b}'  a  series  of 
columns  of  variegated  marble  with  white  mar- 
ble capitals.  On  a  dais  in  front  of  these  marble 
columns  formerly  stood  the  chair  of  the  Presi- 
159 


Washington  :  The  Federal  City- 
dent  of  the  Senate,  and  directly  in  front  of  it 
were  the  desks  of  the  Senate  officials.  A  small 
gallery,  supported  by  iron  columns,  encircled  the 
chamber,  and  on  the  wall  were  a  number  of  oil- 
paintings,  including  a  large  portrait  of  Wash- 
ington by  the  younger  Peale.  Arranged  in  con- 
centric semicircles  in  the  central  part  of  the 
chamber  were  mahogany  desks  and  chairs  for 
the  use  of  the  Senators. 

The  old  Hall  of  Representatives,  now  the  Na- 
tional Statuary  Hall,  is  semicircular  in  form, 
ninety-five  feet  long  and  fifty-seven  feet  high, 
with  a  dome  ceiling.  At  the  rear  of  the  hall 
is  a  great  arch  with  marble  pillars,  and  extending 
around  it  is  a  colonnade  of  twenty-six  columns 
of  variegated  marble  with  white  marble  capitals. 
The  floor  is  of  marble  with  mosaic  tiling,  ^^'hen 
the  Representatives  occupied  the  Hall  the 
Speaker's  chair  and  table  were  placed  on  a  ros- 
trum four  feet  from  the  floor,  back  of  which 
were  crimson  curtains  suspended  from  the  mar- 
ble pillars  supporting  the  great  arch.  Near  the 
rostrum  were  tables  and  sofas  for  the  clerks  and 
reporters.  The  Representatives  were  provided 
with  mahogany  desks  and  comfortable  arm- 
chairs, arranged  in  concentric  semicircles.  An 
160 


The   Return   of  Peace 

iron  railing  with  curtains  enclosed  the  outer  row 
of  desks,  and  beyond  the  railing  was  the  mem- 
bers' lobby.  Above  the  lobby  was  a  gallery  with 
seats  for  about  five  hundred  persons. 

Following  the  destruction  of  the  Capitol  by 
the  British,  Congress  met  for  a  single  session  in 
the  Union  Pacific  Hotel,  a  roomy  brick  structure 
commonly  called  the  "  Great  Hotel,"  and  situ- 
ated on  the  square  in  Washington  which  now 
affords  a  site  for  the  post-office  building.  In 
December,  1816,  Congress  leased  a  building 
which  the  citizens  of  Washington  had  erected 
near  the  eastern  grounds  of  the  Capitol,  and 
held  its  sessions  in  it  for  three  years.  This 
building  has  always  been  known  as  the  Old 
Capitol.  In  it  John  C.  Calhoun  died ;  and  dur- 
ing the  Civil  \ya.v  it  was  used  as  a  place  of 
confinement  for  Confederate  and  other  pris- 
oners. Henry  Wirz,  the  keeper  of  Ander- 
sonville  prison,  was  hanged  in  its  yard  in  No- 
vember, 1865.  ^t  ^s  still  standing,  but  has  been 
much  altered,  and  is  now  used  for  residences. 

Elbridge  Gerry,  as  Vice-President,  presided 

over  the  deliberations  of  the  Senate  during  a 

part  of  Madison's  second  term.    Gerry,  who  died 

while  in  office,  as  had  his  predecessor,  Clinton, 
I— II  161 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

was  one  of  the  striking  personalities  of  his  time. 
He  had  been  a  member  of  the  Continental  Con- 
gress, as  well  as  of  the  conventicni  which  framed 
the  Constitution,  and  was  one  of  the  few  of  the 
framers  who  refused  to  sign  that  instrument 
after  its  adoption.  First  as  a  Federalist  and 
afterwards  as  a  Democrat,  he  was  conspicuous 
in  public  life  during  the  first  quarter  of  a  cen- 
tury under  the  Constitution,  serving  in  the  popu- 
lar branch  of  Congress,  as  an  envoy  to  France, 
in  the  governorship  of  his  State,  and  in  the  Vice- 
Presidency.  It  was  Gerry  who,  while  governor 
of  Massachusetts,  first  devised  the  partisan  ar- 
rangement of  voting  districts  since  called  gerry- 
mandering, after  its  author  and  earliest  practi- 
cal exponent.  Gerry  had  a  grandson  of  the 
same  name  in  Congress  at  a  later  period,  and 
several  of  his  descendants  have  figured  more 
or  less  conspicuously  in  law  and  literature,  and 
in  other  fields  of  endeavor.  When  he  died  in 
Washington,  in  1814,  Congress  erected  a  monu- 
ment to  his  memory  in  the  Congressional  Ceme- 
tery. 

Several  well-remembered  names  were  added 
to  the  roster  of  the  Senate  between  18 13  and 
18 1 7.      Nathaniel   j\Iacon,   of   North   Carolina, 
162 


The   Return   of  Peace 

left  the  House,  in  1815,  to  take  the  seat  in  the 
Senate  which  he  was  to  hold  until  his  volun- 
tary resignation  at  the  age  of  seventy.  Above 
the  highest  office  the  President  could  confer, 
but  not  above  the  lowest  the  people  could  give, 
accepting  that  of  justice  of  the  peace  in  his 
county,  and  declining  those  of  Postmaster- 
General  and  Vice-President,  Macon  was  a  fine 
type  of  a  class  of  public  men  who  were  in  close 
and  full  sympathy  with  the  people.  He  is  de- 
scribed by  a  Senator  who  entered  the  chamber 
shortly  before  he  left  it  as  "  always  wearing 
the  same  dress, — that  is  to  say,  a  suit  of  the 
same  material,  cut,  and  color,  the  whole  cut 
from  the  same  piece,  in  the  fashion  of  the  time 
of  the  Revolution,  and  always  replaced  by  a  new 
one  before  it  showed  age.  He  was  neat  in  his 
person,  always  wore  fine  linen,  a  fine  cambric 
stock,  a  fine  fur  hat  wnth  a  brim  to  it,  and  fair 
top-boots, — the  boots  outside  of  the  pantaloons, 
on  the  principle  that  leather  was  stronger  than 
cloth."  A  severe  and  stringent  Democrat  of 
the  Jeffersonian  school,  Macon's  speeches  in 
Congress  were  always  short  and  to  the  point. 
Benton  aptly  says  of  him  that  he  "  spoke  more 
good  sense  while  getting  in  his  chair  and  getting 
163 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

out  of  it  than  many  delivered  in  long  and  elabo- 
rate speeches." 

Jeremiah  Mason,  one  of  the  greatest  lawyers 
of  his  own  or  any  other  time,  entered  the  Sen- 
ate from  New  Hampshire  in  1813,  bnt  resigned 
before  his  term  expired  to  resume  the  practice 
of  his  profession.  New  York,  in  181 5,  sent 
Nathan  Sanford,  an  acute  and  vigorous  advo- 
cate, who  afterwards  succeeded  James  Kent  as 
chancellor  of  his  State.  One  of  the  Senators 
from  Louisiana  was  James  Brown,  who  had 
already  played  a  conspicuous  part  as  a  State- 
builder  in  the  Southwest,  and  later  was  to  close 
an  honorable  public  career  by  noteworthy  ser- 
vice as  minister  to  France. 

James  Barbour  was  a  member  of  the  Senate 
from  Virginia  from  181 5  until  1825.  During 
the  same  period,  and  for  five  years  more,  his 
brother  Philip  was  a  member  of  the  House. 
Both  were  long  influential  in  the  public  service, 
patriotic  men  of  high  character,  but  of  widely 
different  temperaments  and  cast  of  mind.  James 
was  a  man  of  dignified  and  imposing  appearance, 
but  a  flowery,  verbose,  and  rather  pompous  ora- 
tor, who  wrote  and  spoke  in  a  profusely  ornate 
style,  much  criticised  by  the  sharp  scholars  of 
164 


The   Return   of  Peace 

his  day.  Philip,  on  the  other  hand,  had  a  signal 
gift  for  analysis  and  was  always  sparing  in  the 
use  of  words.  The  difference  between  the  two 
brothers  was  well  described  by  John  Randolph. 
An  accjuaintance  who  met  him  descending  the 
steps  of  the  Capitol  incjuired  what  was  going 
on.  "  Not  much,"  was  the  reply.  "  I  have 
been  in  the  Senate  listening  to  James  Barbour 
and  in  the  House  hearing  Phil.  James  fired  at 
a  barn  door  and  missed  it;  Phil  fired  at  a  hair 
and  split  it." 

Henry  Clay  continued  Speaker  of  the  House 
during  the  period  under  discussion,  but  when 
he  went  to  Europe  to  aid  in  the  making  of  the 
Treaty  of  Ghent,  his  place  was  taken  for  the 
time  being  by  Langdon  Cheeves.  William 
Lowndes,  as  chairman  of  the  Committee  on 
Ways  and  Means,  was  leader  on  the  floor  of 
the  House,  whose  new  membership  included 
not  a  few  strong  and  picturesque  personalities. 
None  of  these  came  more  quickly  into  promi- 
nence than  did  John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York, 
who  in  1813  began  a  continuous  service  of 
twenty  years  in  the  House,  where  from  the  first 
he  was  one  of  the  leaders  in  turn  of  the  Demo- 
cratic and  Whig  parties.  He  was  twice  elected 
165 


Washington  :   The   Federal    City 

Speaker,  but  is,  perhaps,  best  remembered  as 
the  man  who  first  openly  opposed  in  Congress 
the  further  extension  of  slavery. 

New  Jersey  was  now  represented  by  Ephraim 
Bateman,  a  distinguished  physician,  and  by  elo- 
quent Richard  Stockton,  previously  a  Senator 
from  that  State,  and  the  progenitor  of  a  line  of 
Senators.  Pennsylvania  set  Federalist  Joseph 
Hopkinson,  still  held  in  memory  as  the  author 
of  "  Hail,  Columbia,"  against  that  uncompro- 
mising Democrat,  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  an 
able  man,  of  generous  impulses  but  vindictive 
resentments,  who  could  never  speak  of  the  peo- 
ple or  government  of  Great  Britain  in  terms  of 
moderation,  and  whose  hatred  of  both  broke 
out  now  and  then  in  a  strain  of  vituperation 
so  coarse  as  to  shock  the  nerves  of  the  more 
delicate.  Another  member  from  Pennsylvania 
was  Samuel  D.  Ingham,  a  Quaker  paper-maker 
with  a  gift  for  intrigue,  who,  after  long  service 
in  the  House  and  Senate,  was  to  become  Jack- 
son's Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 

The   Cincinnati    district   was   represented   by 
youthful  John  McLean,  future  Cabinet  minister 
and  Supreme  Court  justice.     Another  Ohio  dis- 
trict was  served  by  General  William  Henry  Har- 
i66 


The   Return   of  Peace 

rison,  busy  for  the  moment  in  clearing  his 
soldierly  record  from  the  aspersions  cast  upon 
it  by  fellow-members,  and  little  dreaming  of 
the  high  honors  which  time  and  changed  con- 
ditions were  to  bring  him.  Could  Harrison 
have  foretold  events  he  would  have  recognized 
in  a  strikingly  handsome  member  from  Virginia, 
John  Tyler  by  name,  one  whose  career  was,  in 
future  years,  to  be  bound  up  in  surprising  fash- 
ion with  his  own.  Tyler  was  still  several  years 
under  thirty,  but  already  conspicuous  as  a  for- 
cible and  persuasive  orator  when,  in  1816,  he 
was  chosen  to  fill  a  vacancy  in  the  House.  He 
was  twice  re-elected,  but  in  1821,  owing  to  im- 
paired health,  he  declined  further  re-election  and 
returned  to  private  life. 

Kentucky's  contribution  to  new  membership 
was  a  pair  of  political  rough  diamonds, — fight- 
ing, rollicking  William  P.  Duval,  the  spirited 
original  of  Paulding's  Nimrod  Wildfire,  and 
Ben  Hardin,  a  coarse,  rude  mental  giant,  likened 
by  John  Randolph  to  "  a  kitchen  knife  sharpened 
on  a  brickbat."  jMaryland,  as  the  result  of  a 
Federalist  upheaval,  sent  Alexander  Hanson, 
whose  vitriolic  pen  had  more  than  once  placed 
his  life  in  jeopardy,  and  who,  ere  his  second 
167 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

term  ended,  succeeded  Hobert  Goodloe  Harper 
in  the  Senate,  serving  there  until  his  death. 
North  Carolina,  already  boasting  a  most  able 
delegation,  furnished  another  member  of  com- 
manding talent  in  William  Gaston,  an  eloquent 
and  broad-minded  lawyer  of  Huguenot  descent, 
while  the  Virginia  Tuckers  were  represented 
by  the  son  and  namesake  of  patriot  George 
Tucker,  who  at  once  took  and  held  a  prominent 
position  as  a  debater  and  constitutional  lawyer. 
John  Forsyth  came  to  the  House  from  Georgia 
to  begin,  in  1813,  a  public  career  that  made  him 
governor  of  his  State,  twice  Senator,  and  Sec- 
retary of  State  under  two  Presidents.  An 
equally  brilliant  Representative  from  the  same 
State  w^as  Richard  Henry  \\'ilde,  one  of  the  most 
scholarly  men  who  ever  sat  in  Congress,  who 
has  left  a  monument  of  his  poetic  imagination 
in  the  graceful  and  still  popular  lyric,  "  My  Life 
is  like  the  Summer  Rose." 

However,  of  the  men  who  appeared  in  Con- 
gress during  the  second  decade  of  the  century, 
few  will  live  as  long  in  the  memory  of  the 
people  and  none  as  long  in  the  literature  of  the 
country  as  Daniel  \\>bster,  who  in  ]\Iay.  181 3, 

entered  the  House  from  his  native  State  of  New 
168 


The   Return   of  Peace 

Hampshire.  He  was  then  thirty-one  years  old, 
but  already  commanded  attention  by  his  pre-emi- 
nent power  of  speech  and  singular  charm  of  pres- 
ence, and  by  a  striking  dignity  of  carriage  and 
demeanor, — traits  which  matured  with  the  years 
into  that  "  imposing  and  regal  personality,  the 
effect  of  which  is  described  by  his  contemporaries 
in  language  almost  extravagant,  borrowing  its 
similes  from  kings,  cathedrals,  and  mountain 
peaks." 

Webster  soon  \\on  a  place  in  the  front  rank 
of  debaters,  especially  on  questions  of  finance; 
but  the  four  years  which  he  then  spent  in  the 
House  were  a  mere  prelude  to  his  great  politi- 
cal career.  He  left  Congress  in  1817  to  give 
himself  to  his  legal  practice,  and,  removing  to 
Boston,  rose  rapidly  to  national  eminence  as  a 
practitioner,  an  eminence  that  left  him  with  no 
superior  and  with  few  rivals  at  the  American  bar. 
He  reappeared  in  the  House  at  the  end  of  six 
years,  as  the  member  from  the  Boston  district, 
and  in  1827  he  was  elected  to  a  seat  in  the 
Senate,  which  he  held  until,  in  1841.  he  became 
Secretary  of  State  in  Harrison's  Cabinet.  He 
continued  in  that  office  under  Tyler  until  his 
resignation  in  May,  1843,  showing  himself  as 
169 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

able  in  diplomacy  as  in  other  departments  of 
statesmanship.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  Senate 
early  in  1845,  ^^^^^  ^^^^  ^^  ^^  the  end  of  five  years 
to  become  Fillmore's  Secretary  of  State,  which 
post  he  was  holding  when  he  died  in  the  early 
autumn  of  1852. 

Webster's  was  the  master-mind  of  the  first 
half  of  the  century.  How  profound  and  vital  was 
the  impress  which  he  gave  to  national  legislation 
and  to  national  sentiment  will  appear  from  time 
to  time  in  these  pages.  Unfortunate  habits,  ill- 
harbored  ambitions,  which  unsettled  his  judg- 
ment and  crooked  his  vision,  and  a  lack  of  moral 
fibre  and  of  self-confidence,  prevented  him  from 
ever  reaching  the  full  and  splendid  measure  of 
usefulness  promised  by  his  powerful  intellect, 
and  robbed  him,  more  especially  in  his  latter 
years,  of  the  noblest  fruit  of  great  service, — an 
unbounded  public  confidence.  And  so  when  he 
died  there  were  many  who  saw  in  him  only  rare 
gifts  and  matchless  opportunities  brought  to 
naught  by  vulgar  appetite  and  selfish  ambition; 
but  an  after-generation,  more  impartial  if  not 
more  generous  in  its  judgments,  beholds  in 
Webster  "  a  figure  of  antique  mould,  master  of  a 

sovereign  intelligence  and  of  vast  knowledge, 
170 


The   Return   of  Peace 

whose  unanswerable  arguments,  couched  in  lan- 
guage at  once  noble,  simple,  and  severe,  welded 
an  indissoluble  and  enduring  Union,  and  who 
lacked  but  a  stronger  character  to  have  become 
the  greatest  name  in  the  political  history  of 
America." 

The  noblest  fruit  of  the  second  war  with 
England  was  increased  pride  in  a  common  coun- 
try, strengthened  confidence  in  its  high  desti- 
nies, and  a  growing  belief  that  its  greatness 
depended  altogether  upon  the  permanency  of 
the  Union.  Its  close,  however,  left  the  country, 
for  the  moment,  in  a  deplorable  financial  condi- 
tion, and  to  remedy  this  was  the  first  work  of  the 
Administration  and  of  Congress.  Dallas,  Secre- 
tary of  the  Treasury,  proposed,  as  one  measure 
of  relief  for  the  universal  distress,  that  a  new 
national  bank  should  be  chartered, — the  legal 
existence  of  the  old  one  had  terminated  in  1811, 
— with  increased  capital  and  enlarged  powers. 
Such  an  institution  was  chartered  by  Congress, 
after  an  extended  and  acrimonious  debate  for 
one-and-twenty  years,  with  a  capital  of  thirty- 
five  millions,  a  portion  of  the  stock  to  be  owned 
by  the  government,  which  was  to  be  represented 
in  the  management  by  five  directors  in  a  board 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

of  twenty-five.  The  bank  was  to  be  estab- 
lished in  Philadelphia,  with  branches  in  all  the 
large  cities,  and  was  to  receive  and  disburse  the 
public  moneys  without  charge. 

Dallas  also  urged  that  the  tariff  should  be 
readjusted,  but  by  the  one  he  recommended  the 
average  duties  on  imports  amounted  almost  to 
a  prohibition,  and  was  avowedly  intended  as  a 
protection  and  encouragement  to  American 
manufactures.  The  non-importation  policy,  set 
on  foot  by  Jefferson,  compelled  our  people,  who 
before  that  time  had  mainly  depended  on  Eng- 
land for  articles  alike  of  comfort,  fashion,  and 
necessity,  to  establish  manufactories  of  their 
own.  These  at  the  close  of  the  war  represented 
a  heavy  investment  of  capital,  whose  owners 
now  appealed  to  Congress  for  protection  against 
the  influx  of  cheaper  English  goods  which  came 
with  the  reopening  of  the  channels  of  trade. 
Their  appeal  was  sustained  by  the  Democratic, 
or  Southern,  party,  led  by  Clay,  Lowndes,  and 
Calhoun,  and  opposed  by  the  New  England 
Federalists,  who  found  their  ablest  spokesman  in 
Webster. 

The  question  was  one  of  sectional  interest 
rather  than  of  abstract  political  economy.  New 
172 


The  Return   of  Peace 

England,  with  her  capital  invested  in  commerce, 
feared  the  adoption  of  a  policy  which  would 
ruin  her  carrying  trade;  but  the  South  was 
anxious  to  create  a  home  market  for  her  cot- 
ton, against  which  there  was  a  discriminating 
duty  in  England,  and  her  claims,  prompted  by 
self-interest,  were  shrewdly  made  to  assume  a 
patriotic  hue.  "  New  wars  might  come,"  ar- 
gued Clay,  Lowndes,  and  the  rest.  ''  Americans 
should,  therefore,  be  able  at  all  times  to  rely 
upon  their  own  resources.  The  importation  by 
England,  our  implacable  enemy,  of  low-priced 
merchandise,  menacing  native  production,  was 
another  hostile  invasion."  The  momentum 
created  by  arguments  like  these  could  not  be 
overcome,  even  by  Webster.  The  Federalists 
were  defeated,  and  the  tariff  of  1816  became  a 
law. 

A  third  measure  enacted  by  the  Fourteenth 
Congress  demands  a  w'ord.  This  was  a  bill  in- 
creasing the  pay  of  members  of  the  House  from 
six  dollars  for  each  day's  actual  attendance  to 
fifteen  hundred  per  year,  and  twice  that  sum 
to  the  Speaker.  It  met  with  the  instant  and 
stormy  but  unreasonable  opposition  of  the  coun- 
try, wdiich,  to  quote  a  contemporary  account, 
173 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

"was  aroused  to  el)ul]icnt  incHgnation."  Many 
memljers  lost  tlieir  seats  by  voting  for  the  bill, 
— even  Clay's  return  was  contested  on  that 
ground, — and  Congress  made  haste  at  its  next 
session  to  change  the  compensation  to  eight  dol- 
lars per  day,  which  rate  was  retained  until  1855. 

Thus,  with  the  diligent  h.ealing  of  old  wounds 
and  the  unconscious  opening  of  new  ones,  Mad- 
ison's second  term  drew  to  a  close.  As  Madison 
had  succeeded  Jefferson,  so  it  was  determined 
that  Monroe  should  succeed  Madison.  The 
South  swayed  the  Union  and  Virginia  ruled 
the  South.  The  Northern  Democrats  would 
have  made  a  Northern  man  President  if  they 
could,  and  their  choice  would  have  fallen  on 
Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  of  New  York.  Political 
tradition  and  skilful  management,  however, 
united  in  successful  support  of  Monroe's  eleva- 
tion, and  the  friends  of  Tompkins  had  to  be 
satisfied  with  his  nomination  for  the  powerless 
office  of  Vice-President. 

The  vote, in  the  Electoral  College  for  Monroe 
and  Tompkins  was  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
three,  while  only  thirty-four  was  given  to  the 
opposing  Federalist  candidate,  Rufus  King. 
Four  years  later  IMonroe  and  Tompkins  were 
174 


The   Return   of  Peace 

nominated  and  elected  for  a  second  time,  the 
former  receiving  every  vote  in  the  Electoral 
College  save  one.  The  Federalists  had  passed 
from  the  stage,  and  for  the  first  time  since 
Washington  quitted  office  there  was  apparently 
but  one  political  party  in  the  United  States. 


175 


CHAPTER    VII 

HOW  SLAVERY  CAME  INTO  POLITICS 

THE  Presidency  came  to  IMonroe  at  fifty- 
nine  as  the  splendid  climax  of  more  than 
forty  years  of  public  service.  He  had  been  a 
colonel  of  Virginia  foot  during  the  Revolution, 
Senator  from  and  governor  of  his  State,  minis- 
ter in  turn  to  France,  England,  and  Spain,  and 
Secretary  of  State  and  of  War  under  Madison. 
His  inauguration  as  President,  on  March  4, 
181 7,  was  remarkable  chiefly  for  being  the  first 
one  held  out  of  doors  since  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment had  been  moved  to  the  Potomac.  There 
had  been  open-air  exercises  when  Washington 
was  installed  in  New  York,  but  all  of  his  suc- 
cessors until  Monroe  had  been  inaugurated 
within-doors.  Some  authorities  state  that  the 
proposal  to  change  to  the  open  air  in  181 7  was 
the  outcome  of  a  bitter  wrangle  between  the 
House  and  Senate  as  to  the  division  of  seats 
at  the  ceremonies. 

Agreement    being    apparently    impossible,    it 
was  suggested  that  by  going  out  of  doors  room 
£76 


How  Slavery    Came  into   Politics 

could  be  found  for  everybody,  and  the  idea  was 
acted  upon  joyfully.  A  platform  was  erected 
for  the  occasion  under  the  unfinished  portico 
of  the  Capitol,  and  from  this  Monroe,  the  day 
being  balmy  and  beautiful,  delivered  his  in- 
augural address  to  the  largest  assemblage  that 
had  yet  been  gathered  there.  No  out-door  exer- 
cises attended  Monroe's  second  inauguration, 
rain  and  snow  falling  throughout  the  day;  but 
the  city  was  crowded  with  visitors,  and  a  long 
and  imposing  procession  attended  the  President 
in  his  journey  from  the  White  House  to  the 
Capitol  and  back  again. 

Contemporary  descriptions  afford  a  speaking 
portrait  of  the  new  President, — a  tall,  spare, 
gray-haired  man  with  a  grave,  mild  face,  digni- 
fied and  courteous  in  bearing,  and  dressed  always 
with  fastidious  care  in  a  dark-blue  coat,  buff 
vest,  smallclothes,  top-boots,  and  a  cocked  hat 
of  Revolutionary  style.  Mrs.  Monroe,  a  woman 
of  rare  social  and  mental  endowment,  was  the 
daughter  of  Lawrence  Kortright,  a  former  cap- 
tain of  the  English  army.  She  was  one  of  the 
belles  of  New^  York  society  when  Monroe  mar- 
ried her,  in  1786,  but  his  accession  to  the  Presi- 
dency found  her  so  great  an  invalid  that  she 
I.— 12  177 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

ming-led  little  in  the  social  gayeties  of  the  capi- 
tal. In  amends  she  gave  weekly  drawing- 
rooms,  which  are  thus  described  by  the  Na- 
tional Intelligencer: 

"  The  secretaries,  senators,  foreign  ministers, 
consuls,  auditors,  accountants,  officers  of  the 
army  and  navy  of  every  grade,  farmers,  mer- 
chants, parsons,  priests,  lawyers,  judges,  auc- 
tioneers, and  nothingarians,  all  with  their  wives, 
and  some  with  their  gawky  offspring,  crowd  to 
the  President's  House  every  Wednesday  evening ; 
some  in  shoes,  most  in  boots,  and  many  in  spurs ; 
some  snuffing,  others  chewing,  and  many  long- 
ing for  their  cigars  and  wdiiskey-punches  left 
at  home.  Some  with  powdered  heads,  others 
frizzled  and  oiled,  with  some  whose  heads  a 
comb  has  never  touched,  half  hid  by  dirty  col- 
lars reaching  far  above  their  ears  as  stiff  as 
paste-board." 

It  is  not  to  be  wondered  at,  in  the  face  of  this 
moving  picture  of  democratic  equality,  that  early 
in  Monroe's  occupation  of  the  \Miite  House 
questions  of  precedence,  etiquette,  and  first  visits 
arose  to  plague  official  society.  ]\Irs.  Monroe 
and  her  two  daughters,  having  dwelt  long  in 
France  and  England,  held  decided  opinions  on 
178 


How   Slavery   Came   into   Politics 

the  subject  of  precedence.  These  opinions  were 
shared_by  John  Quincy  Adams,  the  new  Secre- 
tary of  State,  who  had  also  hved  much  at  for- 
eign courts ;  and,  when  a  contention  arose 
between  the  Senators,  Cabinet  officers,  and 
diplomatic  corps,  he  seized  with  eagerness  the 
opportunity  to  draw  up  a  code  of  etiquette 
touching  precedence  and  first  calls,  which  was 
generally  observed  until  the  close  of  his  Ad- 
ministration. Adams's  code,  though,  as  may 
be  readily  imagined,  more  honored  in  the  breach 
than  in  the  observance  during  Jackson's  stormy 
Presidency,  is  still  the  foundation  of  Washing- 
ton official  etiquette. 

Monroe,  though  himself  a  man  of  common- 
place quality,  took  care  to  draw  about  him  ad- 
visers of  exceptional  capacity.  Adams,  as 
already  noted,  was  made  Secretary  of  State; 
William  H.  Crawford,  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury; John  C.  Calhoun,  Secretary  of  War;  and 
Smith  Thompson,  Secretary  of  the  Navy. 
Thompson,  a  man  of  sound  learning  and  vigor- 
ous intellect,  had  been  chief  justice  of  New  York 
when  called  to  the  Cabinet,  and  in  1823  was 
appointed  to  the  seat  in  the  Supreme  Court  left 
vacant  by  the  death  of  Justice  Livingston, 
179 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

Samuel  Southard  succeeding  him  as  Secretary 
of  the  Navy. 

Monroe's  Attorney-General  was  William  Wirt, 
who  during  the  ensuing  twelve  years,  for  he 
continued  to  serve  under  the  younger  Adams, 
was  often  pitted  with  signal  success  against  the 
most  eminent  lawyers  of  the  land.  Wirt  when 
he  took  up  his  residence  in  Washington  was  still 
several  years  under  fifty,  and  his  manly,  striking 
figure,  handsome,  intellectual  face,  clear,  musical 
voice,  and  graceful  gesture  pointed  him  out 
both  in  the  forum  and  the  drawing-room  as  an 
exceptional  personality.  Single-minded  devo- 
tion to  his  calling  marked  every  stage  of  Wirt's 
career,  but  he  loved  knowledge  for  its  own  sake, 
and  all  his  life  was  an  unceasing  student  of  men 
and  of  books.  He  delighted  in  contact  with 
congenial  minds,  and  there  lingered  long  in 
Washington  piquant  traditions  of  his  gift  of 
conversation.  Easy,  playful,  and  sparkling  with 
wit  and  humor,  he  never  failed  to  interest  his 
hearers. 

Wirt's   ablest   arguments   as   a   lawyer   were 

those  he  delivered  in  the  trial  of  Aaron  Burr 

and  in  the  famous  Dartmouth  College  case,  tried 

before  the  Supreme  Court  in  March,  1818.     It 
180 


How   Slavery    Came   into   Politics 

was  in  this  case  that  \\^ebster  won  pecuhar  kistre 
for  his  argument  in  behalf  of  the  college,  an 
argument  which,  expounding  with  masterly  co- 
gency the  clause  in  the  Constitution  prohibiting 
State  legislation  in  impairment  of  contracts, 
proved  him  a  great  constitutional  lawyer  and 
consummate  advocate,  fascinated  John  Marshall 
on  the  bench,  and  moved  to  tears  the  audience 
in  the  thronged  court-room.  The  court  sus- 
tained Webster  in  one  of  those  far-reaching  de- 
cisions which  so  fixed  the  interpretation  of  the 
Constitution  as  to  add  greatly  to  its  potency  as 
a  fundamental  instrument  of  government. 

Monroe's  private  secretary  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  two  terms  was  Samuel  L.  Gou- 
verneur,  of  New  York,  afterwards  postmaster 
of  that  city.  Monroe  and  Gouverneur's  father 
had  married  sisters,  and  in  March,  1820,  the 
son  took  to  wife  his  cousin,  Maria  Monroe. 
The  marriage  ceremony,  the  first  in  the  White 
House,  was  performed  in  the  splendid  East 
Room,  then  lately  furnished  with  furniture 
brought  from  Paris,  in  what  gossips  called  the 
"  New  York  style,"  only  the  relatives  and  im- 
mediate friends  of  the  bride  being  present. 

Washington,  however,  had  there  been  need, 
181 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

could  lia\e  furnished  a  brilliant  company  to 
grace  the  occasion.  Great  Britain  was  then  rep- 
resented at  the  American  capital  by  Sir  Charles 
Bagot,  subsequently  governor-general  of  Can- 
ada, whose  beautiful  ^\•ife  was  the  daughter  of 
Lord  Mornington  and  the  niece  of  Wellington, 
and  who,  in  1820,  gave  way  to  the  famous  Sir 
Stratford  Canning.  The  French  minister  was 
Hyde  de  Neuville,  a  noble  specimen  of  the  old 
regime,  who  in  earlier  years  had  shared  Mo- 
reau's  American  exile,  and  whose  fascinating 
wife,  we  are  told,  spoke  English  with  such  de- 
lightful accent  that  her  greeting  to  her  guests, 
"  I  am  charming  to  see  you,"  was  truer  than 
she  knew.  Russia  was  then  represented  by  that 
witty  epicure.  Baron  Tuyll,  and  Spain  and  Por- 
tugal by  other  noblemen  of  distinguished  man- 
ners and  unusual  accomplishments.  Generals 
Brown,  Scott,  and  Macomb  were  at  that  period 
residents  of  Washington,  while  the  navy  was 
represented  by  Commodore  John  Rodgers.  for 
more  than  twenty  years  president  of  the  board 
of  naval  commissioners,  and  by  Decatur,  Perry, 
Bainbridge,  Warrington,  Morris,  Stewart,  Reid, 
and  other  heroes,   who  made  their  permanent 

homes  at  the  capital. 

182 


How   Slavery    Came   into   Politics 

Nor  was  Washington  society  in  Monroe's 
time  the  rude  jumble  of  motley  elements  to  be 
inferred  by  the  already  quoted,  somewhat  ex- 
travagant paragraph  from  the  National  Intel- 
ligencer. "  The  various  drawing-rooms."  writes 
Nathan  Sargent,  than  whom  there  could  be  no 
better  authority,  "  were  not  then  filled  to  suffo- 
cation by  a  crowd  generally  unknown  to  each 
other  and  hardly  known  to  the  host  and  the  host- 
ess. A  large  portion  of  those  who  constituted 
society  were  personal  acquaintances ;  their  social 
intercourse  was  more  frequent,  genial,  and 
agreeable,  and  especially  free  from  that  stiff 
reserve  and  lack  of  conversation  which  must 
characterize  a  company  made  up  of  those  who 
are  unknown  to  each  other  or  little  accustomed 
to  refined  society.  ...  It  was  customary  to 
go  to  parties  about  eight  o'clock  and  leave  from 
ten  to  eleven.  Dancing  was  usual,  and  at  every 
large  party  tables  were  set  for  those  who  pre- 
ferred to  amuse  themselves  with  whist.  There 
were  often  several  parties  thus  engaged,  for  with 
almost  every  Southern  and  Southwestern  gen- 
tleman of  that  day  play  was  a  passion.  They 
loved  its  excitement,  and  they  played  wherever 
and  whenever  they  met ;  not  for  the  purpose  of 
183 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

winning  money  from  one  another,  but  for  the 
pleasure  it  gave  them.  They  bet  high  as  a 
matter  of  pride  and  to  give  interest  to  the  game." 

Prominent  among  those  who  could  usually 
be  seen  amusing  themselves  at  cards  were  Win- 
field  Scott  and  Stephen  Decatur.  General  Scott, 
in  the  early  twenties,  was  as  fine  a  figure  of  a 
man  as  was  ever  brought  forth  in  America,  for 
nature,  framing  him  in  a  prodigal  mood,  had 
made  him  the  most  imposing  of  all  the  illustrious 
soldiers  of  his  century.  Washington  did  not 
possess  so  majestic  a  presence  as  Scott,  who, 
like  his  great  predecessor,  was  always,  in  man- 
ner, association,  and  feeling,  the  courtly  and 
chivalrous  gentleman.  Dogmatic  and  disputa- 
tious, however,  he  certainly  was,  nor  yet  with- 
out his  share  of  human  foibles.  It  vexed  him 
sorely  to  be  beaten  at  whist,  and  he  always  had 
an  excuse  ready  for  defeat,  on  one  occasion 
gravely  explaining  that  it  was  "  because  I  got 
up  to  spit." 

When  Commodore  Decatur  took  up  his  resi- 
dence in  W^ashington,  soon  after  Monroe's  ac- 
cession, he  was,  and  with  justice,  the  most 
widely  known  and  admired  officer  in  the  navy. 
His  wife,  a  beautiful  and  highly  educated 
1 84 


How   Slavery    Came   into    Politics 

woman,  had  been  sought  in  marriage  by  Jerome 
Bonaparte,  but  on  the  advice  of  Robert  Goodloe 
Harper,  who  predicted  that  Napoleon  would 
never  recognize  such  a  union,  she  refused  him, 
and  became  the  wife  of  Decatur.  The  commo- 
dore and  his  lady,  building  the  house  which 
stands,  little  changed,  at  the  southwest  corner 
of  H  Street  and  Jackson  Place,  at  once  became 
leaders  in  Washington  society,  but  only  for  a 
single  season. 

The  conversation  at  a  dinner  given  by  De- 
catur early  in  ]\Iarch.  1820,  turned  on  the  late 
war,  and  he  spoke  very  severely  of  Captain 
James  Barron  for  not  returning  from  Europe 
to  bear  his  part  in  the  struggle.  Ill  feeling  be- 
tween Decatur  and  Barron  dated  back  to  1808, 
when  the  former  was  a  member  of  a  court- 
martial  to  try  the  latter  for  surrendering  the 
"  Chesapeake"  to  the  "  Leopard.''  Barron  was 
convicted  and  suspended  from  rank  and  pay  for 
five  years.  He  also  believed  that  Decatur's  in- 
fluence had  been  exerted  to  keep  him  on  land 
when  he  desired  active  sea-service  as  a  means 
of  restoring  his  tarnished  reputation.  He  was, 
therefore,  ready  to  take  fire  at  Decatur's  dinner- 
table  talk,  when  it  was  reported  to  him  by  Cap- 
185 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

tain  Jesse  Duncan  Elliott,  who  also  harbored 
a  grievance,  real  or  fancied,  against  the  com- 
modore. 

An  exchange  of  angry  letters  followed,  in 
the  last  of  which  Decatur  declared  that  he  should 
')ay  no  further  attention  to  any  communication 
Barron  might  make  to  him  "  other  than  a  direct 
call  to  the  field."  This  was  supercilious,  and 
left  Barron  no  other  course  than  to  challenge 
Decatur.  Captain  Morris  was  asked  by  Decatur 
to  be  his  second,  but  he  declined,  saying  that  the 
duel  was  entirely  needless,  and  that  peace  should 
be  made.  When  Morris,  however,  offered  his 
services  in  that  interest  they  were  refused,  as 
w^ere  also  the  friendly  offices  of  Commodore 
Dale;  and,  preparations  for  the  duel  having 
been  made  as  secretly  as  possible,  the  two  men, 
on  the  morning  of  March  22,  met  at  Bladens- 
burg.  Elliott  was  the  second  of  Barron  and 
Commodore  Bainbridge  of  Decatur. 

"  I  hope,  Decatur,"  said  Barron,  while  the 
seconds  were  loading  the  pistols,  "  that  when 
we  meet  in  another  world  we  shall  be  better 
friends  than  we  have  been  in  this." 

"  I  have  never  been  your  enemy,  sir,"  was 

Decatur's  reply. 

186 


How   Slavery   Came  into   Politics 

Both  fired  so  nearly  together  when  the  word 
was  given  that  there  was  but  one  report,  and 
both  fell.  Barron  was  wounded  in  the  hip, 
where  Decatur,  who  was  an  unfailing  shot,  had 
declared  that  he  should  hit  him.  Decatur's 
wound  was  in  the  abdomen,  and  was  at  once 
seen  to  be  mortal. 

"  Why  did  you  not  come  home,  Barron,  and 
help  us  in  the  war?"  asked  Decatur  as  they  lay 
bleeding  on  the  field. 

"  I  had  no  money  and  could  not,"  was  the 
reply. 

"  Why  did  you  not  inform  me  of  your  situa- 
tion?" said  the  dying  man.  "I  would  gladly 
have  sent  you  the  money." 

Both  were  placed  in  carriages  after  this  recon- 
ciliation and  hurried  from  the  field,  Decatur 
to  his  home  on  Lafayette  Square,  where  he  died 
in  a  few  hours.  His  funeral,  three  days  later, 
was  attended  by  the  President  and  his  Cabinet, 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  almost  the 
whole  Congress,  and  vast  numbers  of  citizens. 
Public  feeling,  Monroe  and  his  Cabinet  leading 
it,  at  first  ran  high  against  Barron,  who,  quite 
unexpectedly,  recovered ;  but  the  tide  soon 
turned,  and  Decatur  was  very  generally  con- 
187 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

demned  as  having  relentlessly  pursued  a  brave 
but  unfortunate  fellow-officer. 

Barron  long  survived  the  fatal  meeting  at 
Bladensburg,  and  when  he  died,  in  185 1,  he  had 
been  for  a  dozen  years  senior  officer  of  the  navy. 
Mrs.  Decatur  lived  in  seclusion  for  some  months, 
but  then  removed  to  Kalorama,  the  fine  house 
built  by  Joel  Barlow,  where  she  lived  in  great 
style,  giving  weekly  dinners  of  the  most  splendid 
and  costly  sort.  Her  name  was  freely  connected 
with  that  of  Sir  Stratford  Canning  and  with 
that  of  the  aged  Charles  Carroll  of  Carrollton. 
both  of  whom  greatly  admired  her.  But  she 
did  not  remarry.  Late  in  life  she  became  a 
Roman  Catholic,  and  in  1855  she  died  in  the 
convent  at  Georgetown. 

When  the  Fifteenth  Congress  met  in  Decem- 
ber, 181 7,  with  Daniel  D.  Tompkins,  who  as 
governor  of  New  York  had  played  well-nigh  as 
important  a  part  in  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land as  had  been  taken  by  Robert  Morris  in 
the  Revolution,  presiding  over  the  Senate,  and 
Henry  Clay,  now  the  most  conspicuous  man  in 
public  life,  again  serving  as  Speaker  of  the 
House,  it  contained  a  round  score  of  new- 
comers who,  ere  their  race  was  run,  were  to 
188 


How  Slavery    Came   into   Politics 

play  a  large  and  forceful  part  in  political  affairs. 
The  succeeding  Congress  was  equally  pregnant 
with  promise  for  the  future. 

Johnson  and  King,  both  afterwards  Vice- 
Presidents,  had  now  been  promoted  from  the 
House  to  the  Senate,  where  the  latter,  a  wise, 
prudent,  and  safe  legislator,  was  to  serve  until 
near  the  close  of  his  life.  Massachusetts  was 
represented  in  the  same  body  by  Harrison  Gray 
Otis,  and  Ohio  by  Colonel  William  Trimble, 
a  youthful  but  battle-tried  veteran  of  1812, 
Trimble  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-five,  but 
his  colleague,  Benjamin  Ruggles,  served  until 
1833,  gaining  by  quiet,  fruitful  industry  the 
name  of  the  "Wheel-horse  of  the  Senate."  One 
of  the  Senators  from  the  newly  admitted  State 
of  Illinois  was  Jesse  B.  Thomas,  a  Western  bred 
and  virile  descendant  of  Lord  Baltimore,  who 
died  long  afterwards  by  his  own  hand;  the 
other  was  Ninian  Edwards,  a  transplanted  Ken- 
tuckian,  who  at  thirty  had  been  chief  justice 
of  his  native  State. 

One  of  Tennessee's  seats  was  held  by  John 

Williams,   who,   as  a  colonel  of  regulars,   had 

fought   with   Jackson   against   the    Creeks   and 

Seminoles.     Vermont  was  worthily  represented 

1 89 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

by  Isaac  Tichenor,  a  soldier  of  the  Revolution, 
who  had  been  chief  justice  and  a  dozen  times 
governor  of  his  State;  Rhode  Island  by  Jona- 
than Burrill,  an  eloquent,  sagacious  man,  who, 
like  Tichenor,  came  to  the  Senate  by  way  of 
the  judge's  bench ;  and  South  Carolina  by  Wil- 
liam Smith,  stout  friend  and  stouter  foe,  who 
at  the  end  of  a  second  term  in  the  Senate  re- 
moved to  Alabama  that  he  might  not  reside 
where  prevailed  the  policy  of  his  hated  oppo- 
nent, Calhoun.  Burrill,  dying  in  1820,  was 
succeeded  by  Xehemiah  Riceknight,  who,  thrice 
re-elected,  served  until  1841.  Smith,  a  States'- 
rights  advocate  of  the  strictest  sort,  accumulated 
a  large  fortune  by  shrewd  purchases  of  public 
lands,  and  died  a  millionaire. 

New  Jersey's  junior  Senator  was  ]\Iahlon 
Dickerson,  who  already  had  a  dozen  years'  pub- 
lic service  to  his  credit,  and  who  remained  in 
the  Senate  until  called  to  a  place  in  Jackson's 
Cabinet.  \\'alter  Lowrie,  an  Edinburgh  Scotch- 
man reared  in  Pennsylvania,  served  a  single 
term  as  Senator  from  that  State,  and  then  for 
twelve  years  held  the  office  of  secretary  of  the 
Senate.     Indiana  when  admitted  to  the  Union, 

in  1 81 6,  gave  one  of  her  seats  in  the  Senate  to 
190 


How   Slavery    Came  into    Politics 

James  Noble,  who  served  until  his  death;  and 
the  other  to  Waller  Taylor,  who  had  been  an 
aide-de-camp  to  Harrison  at  Tippecanoe  and 
in  the  war  of  1812. 

William  Pinkney,  who  took  his  seat  in  1820, 
was  perhaps  the  ablest  representative  Maryland 
has  ever  had  in  the  Senate, — a  striking  figure, 
not  less  distinguished  for  his  physical  beauty 
and  exquisite  taste  in  dress  than  for  his  gifts 
as  an  advocate  and  his  extraordinary  powers  as 
a  speaker.  Despite  frequent  absence  in  Europe, 
where  he  had  served  at  different  times  as  minis- 
ter to  England,  Russia,  and  Naples,  he  had  long 
held  a  commanding  place  at  the  bar  of  the  Su- 
preme Court,  and  from  the  day  of  his  entrance 
into  the  Senate  he  was  the  recognized  leader  of 
his  party  in  that  body. 

Pinkney  spoke  rarely  as  a  Senator,  and  then 
only  after  laborious  and  careful  preparation. 
It  is  related  of  him,  however,  that  he  was  always 
desirous  that  his  speeches  should  be  thought  the 
unstudied  inspirations -of  his  genius  rather  than 
the  result  of  long  and  arduous  toil.  To  give 
the  appearance  of  this  he  would  sometimes  resort 
to  the  ruse,  on  the  morning  of  a  day  that  he 
was  to  speak  in  the  Senate  or  the  Supreme 
191 


Washington  :  The  Federal  City- 
Court,  of  mounting  a  horse  and  riding  some 
miles  into  the  country,  returning  to  enter  the 
Senate  or  court,  whip  in  hand,  booted  and 
spurred,  with  the  appearance  of  haste,  just  at 
the  moment  he  was  expected  to  rise  and  speak, 
as  if  he  had  failed  to  remember  he  was  to  oc- 
cupy the  floor  and  had  come  wholly  unprepared, 
and  at  once  go  on  with  his  display  of  forensic 
power  and  beauty  fragrant  with  the  oil  of  the 
student's  lamp. 

Pinkney  died  suddenly  and  prematurely  in 
1822  ;  John  J.  Crittenden,  who  had  preceded  him 
to  the  Senate,  continued  a  maker  and  moulder 
of  public  opinion  for  the  better  part  of  half  a 
century.  Crittenden  had  barely  passed  his 
thirtieth  year  wdien,  in  181 7,  Kentucky  first 
chose  him  Senator.  He  resigned  at  the  end  of 
three  years,  but  in  1835  came  again  to  the 
Senate  to  serve  there,  save  when  a  member  of 
the  Cabinets  of  Harrison  and  Fillmore,  until 
the  opening  of  the  Civil  War.  When  he  died 
two  years  later  he  was  a  member  of  the  House. 
Crittenden  was  a  man  exceeding  wise,  fair 
spoken,  and  persuading, — so  good  an  authority 
as  Thomas  Corwin  counted  him  the  ablest  de- 
bater in  the  Senate. — and  to  these  qualities  he 
192 


How   Slavery   Came  into   Politics 

added  exceptional  dignity  and  charm  of  manner. 
He  was,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Clay, 
Kentucky's  best-beloved  son ;  and  than  he  none 
ever  served  her  with  wiser,  more  unselfish  pur- 
pose, either  in  House  or  Senate. 

John  Holmes  entered  the  House  in  1817,  and 
in  1820  was  made  Senator  from  Maine,  serving 
in  that  capacity  for  a  dozen  years.  Holmes  was 
rude  in  speech,  and  at  times  vulgar,  but  he  had 
ready  wit  and  a  sharp  tongue.  John  Tyler,  once 
seeking  to  annoy  him,  asked  what  had  become 
of  the  political  firm  aforetime  mentioned  in~  de- 
bate by  John  Randolph  as  ''  James  Madison, 
Felix  Grundy.  John  Holmes,  and  the  Devil." 

"  I  will  tell  the  gentleman,"  said  Holmes, 
springing  to  his  feet,  "  what  has  become  of  that 
firm.  The  first  member  is  dead ;  the  second 
has  gone  into  retirement ;  the  third  now  ad- 
dresses you ;  and  the  last  has  gone  over  to  the 
nullifiers,  and  is  now  electioneering  among  the 
gentleman's  constituents."  Tyler  did  not  push 
his  inquiry  further. 

Other  new  members  who  found  seats  in  the 
House  between  181 7  and  1821  were  the  younger 
William  Plumer,  of  New  Hampshire,  an  accom- 
plished speaker  and  writer;  Walter  Folger,  of 
1.-13  193 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

Massachusetts,  an  American  Crichton;  Tim- 
othy Fuller,  of  the  same  State,  whose  mem- 
ory lives  in  that  of  his  gifted  daughter,  Mar- 
garet; Benjamin  Gorham,  long  eminent  at  the 
Boston  bar  and  one  of  the  last  of  the  Federalists 
to  appear  in  Congress ;  bland  and  astute  Louis 
McLane,  of  Maryland,  who  later  was  to  be- 
come Senator,  member  of  Jackson's  Cabinet,  and 
twice  minister  to  England ;  Charles  F.  Mercer, 
whose  Congressional  services  were  to  cover  a 
period  of  twenty- four  years ;  John  Floyd,  also  of 
Virginia,  an  irrepressible  champion  of  States'- 
rights ;  the  venerable  Charles  Pinckney,  of 
South  Carolina,  now  performing  his  last  public 
service;  George  Poindexter,  of  Mississippi,  a 
man  of  more  than  ordinary  ability,  but  much 
given  to  controversy  and  the  cup ;  Thomas  Met- 
calf,  of  Kentucky,  who  boasted  of  his  early 
labors  as  a  mason  and  delighted  to  be  called 
the  "  Old  Stone  Hammer;"  Thomas  W.  Cobb, 
of  Georgia,  an  effective  debater,  who  afterwards 
won  a  seat  in  the  Senate;  Daniel  P.  Cook,  of 
Illinois,  another  signally  eloquent  man ;  and 
Solomon  Van  Rensselaer,  Henry  R.  Storrs,  and 
James  Tallmadge,  of  New  York. 

Van  Rensselaer,  who  had  been  a  captain  of 
194 


How   Slavery    Came   into   Politics 

foot  under  Wayne  in  the  Miami  campaign  and 
general  of  volunteers  in  1812,  left  the  House 
near  the  middle  of  his  second  term  to  become 
postmaster  of  Albany,  by  appointment  of  Mon- 
roe. He  was  kept  in  office  by  Adams  and  reap- 
pointed by  Jackson,  who,  however,  soon  discov- 
ered that  the  politicians  of  Albany  were  running 
the  old  postmaster  into  devious  paths.  Two 
solemn  delegations  appeared  in  Washington  at 
the  same  time,  and  poured  into  the  President's 
ears  their  charges  that  Van  Rensselaer  amused 
himself  by  smoking  his  clay  pipe  on  the  piazza 
of  the  only  hotel  in  Albany,  and  denouncing 
Jackson  and  his  administration  in  unmeasured 
terms.  Jackson  removed  the  clay  pipe  from  his 
own  mouth  and  said, — 

"  Gentlemen,  Solomon  Van  Rensselaer,  when 
the  war  of  18 12  broke  out,  was  the  first  man  in 
New  York  to  raise  men  to  fight  the  enemy,  and, 
damn  me,  if  he  didn't  lead  them  himself.  He 
protected  your  homes  and  defended  the  border, 
and  now,  by  the  Eternal !  old  Van  Rensselaer 
is  a  brave  man,  and  he  has  earned  the  right  to 
cuss  me,  if  he  likes,  for  the  rest  of  his  natural 
life."  The  Albany  post-office  saw  no  change  in 
its  head  while  Jackson  remained  President. 
T95 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

Storrs,  who  served  in  the  House  until  1831, 
was  a  most  capable  legislator,  quick  and  ready 
in  debate,  of  commanding  presence,  splendid 
voice,  and  polished  manners ;  but  he  did  not 
win  so  large  a  place  in  history  as  did  Tallmadge, 
whose  career  in  Congress  ended  with  his  first 
term ;  for  it  was  Tallmadge  who,  on  February 
13,  1819,  less  than  a  month  before  he  retired 
from  the  House,  proposed  the  slavery  prohibi- 
tion amendment  to  the  bill  admitting  Missouri 
to  the  Union,  whence  resulted  a  fight  which 
lasted  two  years,  convulsed  the  country,  and 
made  the  sectional  lines,  so  long  as  slavery 
lasted,  deep  and  permanent  in  politics. 

Tallmadge's  proposal  that  the  further  intro- 
duction of  slavery  should  be  prohibited,  and  that 
all  children  born  within  the  State  should  be  free 
at  the  age  of  twenty-five  years,  met  with  instant 
and  angry  protests  from  the  Southern  members. 
There  was  abundant  reason  that  it  should. 
Slavery  during  the  preceding  twenty  years,  by 
the  invention  of  the  cotton-gin,  had  been  made 
more  profitable  than  it  ever  had  been  before. 
The  value  of  slaves  had  trebled,  and  the  per- 
petuation of  slavery  had  become  for  the  South 

a  question  of  the  first  importance.     From  it  was 
196 


How   Slavery    Came  into   Politics 

born  the  necessity,  so  rapid  was  the  growth  of 
the  North  in  population,  for  the  creation  of  more 
slave  States,  that  the  existing  political  equilib- 
rium might  be  maintained,  at  least  in  the  Senate. 
All  Washington  thronged  to  the  Capitol  to 
listen  to  the  debate  provoked  by  Tallmadge's 
amendment.  Cobb,  of  Georgia,  boldest  in  speech 
of  the  Southern  members,  threatened  the  dis- 
solution of  the  Union,  civil  war,  and  streams 
of  blood  should  slavery  be  prohibited  in  Mis- 
souri. Tallmadge  and  other  Northern  men 
declared  themselves  ready  to  accept  all  these 
calamities  rather  than  permit  the  spread  of 
slavery  to  the  Territories  yet  free  from  it,  for 
Missouri,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  been  carved 
from  the  Louisiana  Purchase,  over  which  Con- 
gress had  clear  jurisdiction.  The  House,  on  the 
third  day,  adopted  the  amendment  restricting 
slavery,  and  thus  passed  the  Missouri  bill.  It 
then  went  to  the  Senate,  which,  after  a  heated 
debate  led  by  Rufus  King  for  the 'North  and 
William  Pinkney  for  the  South,  struck  out 
Tallmadge's  amendment,  and  sent  the  bill  back 
to  the  House,  where  it  came  to  nothing  along 
with  other  "  unfinished  business"  of  the  Fif- 
teenth Congress. 

197 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

During  the  summer  months  there  was  excited 
discussion  of  the  question  Ijy  the  press  and  the 
people,  and  when  the  Sixteenth  Congress  met 
in  December,  1819,  debate  upon  it  was  at  once 
resumed,  both  in  the  House  and  in  the  Senate. 
The  admission  of  Missouri  with  slavery  was 
coupled  in  the  latter  body  with  the  admission  of 
Maine,  on  the  South's  cherished  principle  that 
one  free  and  one  slave  State  should  always  be 
admitted  at  the  same  time.  An  amendment  was 
moved  absolutely  prohibiting  slavery  in  Mis- 
souri, but  it  was  voted  down.  Finally,  on  Jan- 
uary 18,  1820,  Senator  Thomas,  of  Illinois, 
proposed  that  no  restriction  as  to  slavery  be 
imposed  upon  Missouri  in  framing  a  State  con- 
stitution, but  that  in  all  the  rest  of  the  country 
ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States  north  of 
36°  30' — the  southern  boundary-line  of  Mis- 
souri— there  should  be  neither  slavery  nor  in- 
voluntary servitude.  This  was  the  essence  of 
the  famous  Missouri  Compromise,  and,  after 
long  and  acrimonious  debate,  and  after  several 
more  votes  in  the  House  for  restriction  and  in 
the  Senate  against  it,  this  compromise  was 
adopted. 

There  the  matter  rested  for  the  moment,  but 
198 


How   Slavery    Came  into   Politics 

at  the  next  sesion  of  Congress  the  whole  ques- 
tion was  unexpectedly  reopened.  The  bill  passed 
at  the  preceding  session  had  authorized  the  peo- 
ple of  Missouri  to  make  a  State  constitution 
without  any  restriction  as  to  slavery ;  but  the 
constitution  with  which  she  now  presented  her- 
self to  Congress  for  formal  admission  to  State- 
hood not  only  recognized  slavery  as  existing 
there,  it  provided  also  that  it  should  be  the  duty 
of  the  Legislature  to  pass  such  laws  as  would 
be  necessary  to  prevent  free  negroes  or  mulat- 
toes  from  coming  into  or  settling  in  the  State. 
Again  there  was  angry  discussion,  but  with  no 
other  result  than  to  leave  the  real  difficulty, 
from  the  temper  aroused,  more  difficult  than  ever 
of  settlement. 

Clay,  who  had  lately  resigned  the  Speakership, 
Taylor,  of  New  York,  being  chosen  his  suc- 
cessor, was  generally  regarded  as  the  only  man 
who  could  work  out  a  solution  of  the  existing 
problem.  Owing  to  the  pressure  of  his  private 
affairs  he  did  not  appear  on  the  floor  of  the 
House  until  the  fourth  week  of  the  session,  but 
from  the  moment  of  his  coming  he  applied  him- 
self with  tireless  energy  to  the  task  in  hand. 
His  influence  and  efforts  worked  a  quick  change 
199 


Washington :   The  Federal   City 

in  the  temper  of  Congress,  and  when,  at  the 
fitting  moment,  he  moved  a  joint  committee  of 
both  houses,  his  motion  prevailed.  The  com- 
mittee was  substantially  of  his  own  choosing 
and  he  was  its  chairman.  Four  days  later  he 
presented  a  report  which  recommended  the  ad- 
mission of  Missouri  practically  on  the  terms  of 
the  former  compromise,  and  on  the  further  con- 
dition that  no  law  should  be  passed  abridging 
the  right  of  any  citizen  to  settle  in  the  State. 
This  resolution  was  adopted  on  the  same  day  by 
the  House  and  on  the  next  day  by  the  Senate. 
The  condition  was  duly  complied  with,  and  Mis- 
souri became  a  State. 

This  adjustment  was  a  signal  triumph  for 
Clay,  who  alone  possessed  the  influence  and  sa- 
gacity required  to  bring  it  about.  It  at  once 
turned  the  public  mind  to  things  of  more  hopeful 
interest,  and  it  brought  to  Congress  a  man  of 
weight  and  momentum,  for  Thomas  Hart  Ben- 
ton was  elected  a  Senator  from  the  newly  ad- 
mitted State.  Benton,  thirty-nine  years  old 
when  he  entered  the  Senate,  was  a  typical  prod- 
uct of  Western  birth  and  breeding,  and  while 
he  grew  and  broadened  in  mental  stature  until 
the  end  of  his  days,  he  never  lost  touch  with 


How    Slavery    Came   into    Politics 

the  people  of  his  region,  who  soon  came  to  re- 
gard him  as  their  ablest  Representative  and  the 
most  stalwart  exponent  of  the  Western  policy. 

Benton,  though  a  sometimes  tedious  and  al- 
ways pompous  debater,  had  a  strong,  tenacious 
mind  tenemented  in  an  eminently  sound  body, 
and  to  quick  capacity  for  the  mastery  of  facts 
and  details  he  added  impressive  boldness  in  their 
presentation.  These  qualities  made  him  from 
the  first  an  important  factor  in  the  affairs  of 
the  Senate,  and,  along  with  unswerving  devo- 
tion to  the  principles  he  had  early  adopted,  won 
for  him,  as  time  went  on,  a  measure  of  popular 
esteem  and  confidence  that  the  more  brilliant 
but  vacillating  talents  of  a  Clay,  a  Calhoun,  or 
a  Webster  could  not  command. 


20I 


CHAPTER    VIII 

•    AN    ERA    OF    GOOD    FEELING 

WASHINGTON,  when  Monroe's  second 
term  began,  was  rounding-  out  its  first 
quarter-century  of  existence  as  the  capital  city. 
Nathan  Sargent,  writing  of  it  in  1824,  describes 
it  as  the  most  straggHng  town  on  the  continent. 
"  The  buildings,  from  the  navy-yard  to  Rock 
Creek,"  he  tells  us,  "  were  standing  here  and 
there  on  the  Avenue,  with  wide  spaces  between, 
giving  rise  to  the  sarcasm  that  it  was  a  city  of 
magnificent  distances,  and,  as  some  added,  great 
expectations.  For  the  depth  and  adhesiveness 
of  its  mud  in  wet  weather,  and  the  quantity  of 
its  dust  in  dry,  few  cities  could  vie  with  it; 
and  as  for  lights,  if  the  pedestrian  did  not  pro- 
vide and  carry  his  own,  he  was  in  danger  of 
discovering  every  mudhole  in  his  route  and 
sounding  its  depths.  .  .  .  There  were  a  few 
good  houses  in  the  vicinity  of  the  White  House, 
and  some  on  Capitol  Hill,  especially  on  North 
A  Street  and  New  Jersey  Avenue,  South;  but, 
with  the  exception  of  these,  and  some  west  of 


An   Era   of  Good   Feeling 

the  \\liite  House,  the  \vhole  eastern,  southeast- 
ern, and  northeastern  portions  of  the  city  were 
enclosed  fields  or  common  pastures.  On  the 
north  side  of  the  city,  east  of  Fourteenth,  the 
population  had  only  in  a  very  few  instances 
advanced  north  of  F  Street.  From  the  post- 
office,  on  E  Street,  all  north  was  common 
pasture,  except  the  great  number  of  brick-yards, 
then  making  brick  for  the  Capitol.  On  these 
common  pastures  were  hundreds  of  cows,  owned 
by  the  citizens,  every  family  then  having  one 
or  more,  and  no  milk  being  carried  around  for 
sale  or  to  supply  families.  Where  the  Smith- 
sonian buildings  and  grounds  now  are  were 
innumerable  quagmires  in  the  fall,  spring,  and 
winter.  Great  numbers  of  the  clerks  in  the 
departments  and  general  post-office  rode  to  and 
from  their  places  of  business  on  horseback. 
There  were  extensive  stables  for  the  use  of 
these  and  the  horses  of  members  of  Congress, 
many  of  whom  came  on  horseback  from  their 
lodgings, — not  a  few  from  Georgetown." 

At  this  period  and  for  many  years  thereafter 
the  sign  of  the  Indian  Queen,  later  the  Metro- 
politan, "  swung  and  creaked  invitingly  to  ar- 
riving travellers,  manv  of  whom  came  on  horse- 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

back,  some  with  a  colored  servant  on  another 
horse,  and  a  pack-horse  besides."  Mr.  Sargent 
styles  the  keeper  of  the  Indian  Queen,  Jesse  B. 
Brown,  "  the  prince  of  landlords,"  and  the  title 
appears  to  have  been  well  earned.  Brown,  a 
native  of  Havre  de  Grace,  had  served  his  ap- 
prenticeship at  Hagerstown  and  Alexandria. 
"  A  glance  at  the  travellers,  as  they  alighted 
and  were  ushered  by  him  into  the  house,  would 
enable  him  mentally  to  assign  each  one  to  a 
room,  the  advantages  of  which  he  would  de- 
scribe ere  sending  its  destined  occupant  there 
under  the  pilotage  of  a  colored  servant." 

At  meal-time  Brown,  wearing  a  large  white 
apron,  escorted  the  newly  come  to  seats,  "  and 
then  went  to  the  head  of  the  table,  where  he 
carved  and  helped  the  principal  dish.  The  excel- 
lence of  this  he  would  announce,  as  he  invited 
those  at  table  to  send  up  their  plates  for  what  he 
knew  to  be  their  favorite  portions ;  and  he  would 
also  call  attention  to  the  dishes  on  other  parts  of 
the  board,  which  were  carved  and  served  by 
the  guests  who  sat  nearest  to  them.  Brandy 
and  whiskey  were  placed  on  the  table  in  de- 
canters, to  be  drunk  by  the  guests  without  ad- 
ditional charge.  At  the  bar,  toddies  were  made 
204 


An   Era  of  Good   Feeling 

with  unadulterated  liquor  and  lump-sugar;  the 
ale  came  from  a  brewery  on  the  bank  of  Rock 
Creek;  fresh  mint  for  juleps  was  brought  from 
the  country  every  day,  and  yet  the  charge  was 
but  twelve  and  a  half  cents  a  drink.  On  high 
days  and  holidays  Brown  would  concoct  foam- 
ing eggnog  in  a  mammoth  punch-bowl  once 
owned  by  Washington,  and  the  guests  of  the 
house  were  all  invited  to  partake.  The  tavern 
desk  was  behind  the  bar,  where  the  barkeeper 
prepared  the  drinks  called  for,  saw  that  the 
bells  were  answered,  received  and  delivered  let- 
ters and  cards,  and  answered  questions  by  the 
score.  He  was  supposed  to  know  everybody  in 
Washington,  where  they  resided,  and  at  what 
hours  they  could  be  seen." 

Mr.  Sar,gent  further  relates  that  when  he 
"  next  visited  Washington.  Gadsby  had  built 
and  occupied  his  new  hotel,  which  afterwards 
became  the  National .  This  he  conducted  in  a 
sort  of  military  style,  and  especially  was  this 
observed  at  his  long  dinner-table.  The  guests 
all  seated,  and  an  army  of  colored  servants 
behind  the  chairs,  with  Gadsby.  a  short,  stout 
gentleman,  standing  at  the  head  of  the  table, 
the  word  was  given.  '  Remove  covers !'  \\'hen 
205 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

all  the  servants  moved  like  automata,  each  at 
the  same  moment  placing  his  hand  on  the  han- 
dle of  a  cover,  each  at  the  same  instant  lifting 
it,  stepping  hack  in  line  and  facing  to  the  head 
of  the  table,  and,  at  a  sign  from  Gadsby,  all 
marching  and  keeping  regular  step  to  the  place 
of  depositing  of  the  covers,  and  then  back,  to 
commence  waiting  on  the  guests.  Who,"  Mr. 
Sargent  regretfully  asks  in  conclusion,  "  of  the 
hundreds  of  thousands  who  in  those  good  old 
cheap  times — only  a  dollar  and  a  quarter  a 
day — enjoyed  the  hospitalities  of  this  gentle- 
manly and  most  liberal  Boniface,  can  forget  his 
urbane  manner,  his  careful  attention  to  his 
guests,  his  well-ordered  house,  his  fine  old  wines, 
and  the  princely  manner  in  which  he  would  send 
his  bottle  of  choice  Madeira  to  some  old  friend 
or  favored  guests  at  the  table?" 

When  Gadsby's  first  threw  open  its  doors  to 
the  public  profound  peace  and  quiet  reigned  in 
the  political  world.  "  The  era  of  good  feeling," 
the  name  given  to  Monroe's  second  term,  per- 
haps by  the  President  himself,  has  secured  for 
the  whole  period  of  his  incumbency  a  sort  of 
peaceful  eminence.  The  most  interesting  event 
of  this  happy  period,  when  party  lines  and 
206 


An   Era    of  Good    Feeling 

prejudices  seemed  buried  from  sight,  was  the 
arrival  in  America  of  the  venerable  Lafayette, 
trusted  companion  of  \\^ashington  and  firm 
friend  of  the  republic  when  it  stood  most  in 
need  of  friends.  He  came  on  the  invitation  of 
the  national  government,  and  was  tendered  a 
frigate  to  bring  him  to  the  United  States.  He 
declined  the  use  of  a  public  ship,  how-ever,  and 
taking  passage  on  the  "  Cadmus,"  of  the  Havre 
line  of  packets,  arrived  at  Staten  Island  on  Sun- 
day, August  15,  1824,  accompanied  by  his  son, 
the  namesake  of  Washington,  and  also  by  his 
son-in-law. 

Lafayette's  arrival  stirred  the  whole  country; 
and  from  widely  separated  States  and  cities  came 
urgent  invitations  for  him  to  visit  them.  These 
he  accepted,  meeting  often  with  old  Revolution- 
ary comrades,  and  being  everywhere  received 
with  lively  manifestations  of  love  and  respect. 
He  spent  many  months  in  travel,  and  then, 
having  visited  every  portion  of  the  country, 
returned  to  Washington  to  become  in  fact  the 
"  Nation's  Guest"  at  the  White  House.  Soon 
after  the  meeting  of  Congress,  in  December, 
1824,  a  bill,  reported  by  a  joint  committee,  was 
passed  granting  to  him  a  township  of  land  and 
207 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

the  sum  of  two  hundred  thousand  dollars ;  and, 
in  his  further  honor,  a  banquet  was  given  him 
by  Congress  on  January  ii,  1825,  while,  in 
graceful  and  grateful  remembrance  of  his  gal- 
lant part  in  one  of  the  battles  of  the  Revolution, 
the  name  of  Brandy  wine  was  bestowed  upon 
the  lately  launched  frigate  wdiich  was  to  carry 
him  back  to  France. 

When  on  September  7,  1825,  Lafayette  bade 
a  final  farewell  to  America,  the  occasion  was 
made  a  public  and  imposing  one.  All  business 
was  suspended  at  Washington,  and  a  distin- 
guished company  gathered  at  the  White  House 
to  take  leave  of  the  departing  guest.  When  all 
was  in  readiness,  the  President  addressed  him 
in  language  signally  elocjuent  and  touching,  and 
so  moving  and  pathetic  was  Lafayette's  reply 
that  there  were  few  tearless  eyes  among  the 
men  and  women  there  present.  Immediately 
after  this  scene  Lafayette  left  the  White  House 
and  the  city,  and  proceeded  down  the  Potomac 
to  its  mouth,  wdiere  the  "  Brandywine"  awaited 
his  coming,  and  on  board  of  which  he  left 
America  never  to  return. 

Washington,    in    1824,    had    another    guest 

worthy  of  remembrance.     This  was   Pushma- 
20S 


An    Era   of  Good   Feelin 


g 


taha,  the  "  eagle  of  the  Choctaws,"  described 
by  Andrew  Jackson,  his  old  comrade  in  arms, 
as  the  greatest  and  best  Indian  he  had  ever 
known.  When  Tecumseh  sought,  in  1813,  to 
induce  the  Creeks,  Cherokees,  and  Choctaws 
to  become  a  part  of  his  projected  confederation 
against  the  whites,  Pushmataha,  the  principal 
chief  of  his  tribe,  announced  his  loyalty  to  the 
United  States,  and  with  five  hundred  braves 
took  the  field,  serving  under  Jackson  through 
all  the  perils  of  the  Pensacola  campaign,  and 
proudly  carrying  during  the  remainder  of  his 
life  the  scars  received  in  more  than  a  score  of 
battles.  Later,  with  his  tribe,  he  settled  in  Ar- 
kansas, and  in  1824,  at  the  head  of  a  delegation 
of  representative  Choctaws,  journeyed  to  Wash- 
ington "  to  brighten  the  chain  of  peace  between 
the  Americans  and  the  Choctaws."  Their  er- 
rand, expressed  in  less  flowery  language  than 
that  of  their  leader,  was  to  bring  about  the  re- 
moval of  a  large  number  of  white  men  living 
on  their  land  and  to  prevent  further  settlement. 

The    concessions    requested    by    the    Indians 

were  granted,  but  their  leader  did  not  live  to 

sign  the  treaty  they  had  come  to  negotiate.     On 

the  evening  of  December  2t,  Pushmataha  paid  a 

I— 14  209 


Washington :    The    Federal    City 

visit  to  Lafayette.  Immediately  after  his  return 
to  his  lodgings  he  was  stricken  with  diphtheria, 
and  twenty-four  hours  later  he  had  ceased  to 
live.  "  When  I  am  dead  let  the  big  guns  be 
fired  over  me,"  was  his  last  request.  Pushma- 
taha's grave  was  made  in  the  Congressional 
Cemetery,  fully  two  thousand  persons  attend- 
ing his  funeral,  and  before  leaving  Washington 
his  brother  chiefs  chose  a  monument  to  mark 
the  resting-place  of  their  leader.  It  is  of  sand- 
stone, once  white,  but  now  dark  with  age, — a 
rectangular  block,  resting  on  a  pedestal  and 
surmounted  by  a  pyramid.  On  one  of  its  sides 
appear  these  words  from  a  eulogy  pronounced 
upon  him  by  John  Randolph  of  Roanoke : 

"  Pushmataha  was  a  warrior  of  great  dis- 
tinction. He  was  wise  in  counsel,  eloquent  in 
an  extraordinary  degree,  and,  on  all  occasions 
and  under  all  circumstances,  the  white  man's 
friend." 

Another  conspicuous  figure  in  \\"ashington 
at  this  period  was  Gabriel  Richard,  the  only 
Catholic  priest  ever  elected  to  Congress,  and 
the  only  member  of  the  House  who  ever  came 
direct  from  a  prison  cell  to  a  seat  on  the  floor. 
A  native  of  France,   Father  Richard  received 


An   Era  of  Good    Feeling 

orders  in  Paris,  and  in  1798  came  to  this  coun- 
try. He  was  for  a  time  professor  of  mathe- 
matics in  St.  Alary's  College,  Maryland,  but 
afterwards  labored  as  a  missionary  in  Illinois, 
finally  locating  at  Detroit,  Michigan.  While 
pastor  of  St.  Ann's  Church  in  that  city  he  began 
the  publication  of  a  Catholic  paper.  It  became 
his  duty  as  a  pastor  to  excommunicate  a  parish- 
ioner who  had  been  divorced  from  his  wife,  and 
this  act,  together  with  articles  published  in  his 
paper,  caused  him  to  be  prosecuted  for  defama- 
tion of  character.  A  heavy  fine  or  imprison- 
ment for  a  long  period  was  imposed,  and  being 
poor  himself  and  a  majority  of  his  parishioners 
French  settlers  of  small  means,  he  was  compelled 
to  go  to  prison,  where  he  remained  until  elected 
a  delegate  in  Congress  from  the  Territory  of 
Michigan.  A  man  of  great  learning,  he  served 
with  distinction  in  the  House,  delivering  several 
exceptionally  able  speeches  on  important  issues. 
A  full  score  of  strong  men  found  scats  in  the 
House  while  Father  Richard  was  a  member  of 
that  body.  James  Buchanan  entered  Congress 
from  Pennsylvania  in  1820,  beginning  at  thirty 
a  career  which  was  to  see  him  a  member  both 
of  the  House  and   Senate,  minister  to  Russia 


Washington  :   The   Federal   Gity 

and  England,  and  President.  Massachusetts 
sent  Henry  W.  Dwight,  a  veteran  of  1812  and 
"  a  noble  specimen  of  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body."  New  York  was  now  represented  in  part 
by  Churchill  C.  Cambreling,  one  of  the  best- 
informed  legislators  of  his  time;  by  Dudley 
IMarvin,  a  lawyer  and  debater  of  exceptional 
capacity;  and  by  Reuben  H.  \\'alworth,  after- 
wards chancellor  of  his  State.  Bluff  Duncan 
MacArthur.  of  Ohio,  had  been  a  general  of 
volunteers  in  the  war  of  1812  and  later  was  to 
become  governor  of  his  State.  Conspicuous 
also  in  the  Ohio  delegation  were  Joseph  Vance, 
a  true  son  of  the  West,  who  first  as  a  Democrat 
and  afterwards  as  a  Whig  served  for  sixteen 
years  in  the  House,  and  John  C.  Wright,  a 
writer  and  speaker  of  no  mean  ability, — fluent, 
caustic,  and  sarcastic. 

William  S.  Archer,  fourteen  years  a  member 
of  the  House  and  for  six  years  more  a  Senator 
from  Virginia, — serving  in  each  branch  as  head 
of  its  Committee  on  Foreign  Relations, — was  a 
man  of  genuine  parts  and  a  trusted  friend  of 
Clay.  Virginia  furnished  two  other  able  de- 
baters in  John  Strode  Barbour,  five  times  a 
member    from    the    Culpeper    district,    and    in 


An   Era  of  Good   Feeling 

William  C.  Rives,  neighbor  of  jMadison  and 
close  student  of  public  affairs,  who  was  succes- 
sively Representative,  minister  to  France,  and 
Senator.  Another  new  member  from  Virginia 
was  Andrew  Stevenson,  Speaker  from  1827  to 
1834  and  minister  to  England  under  Jackson. 
Willie  P.  Mangum.  of  North  Carolina,  began, 
in  1823,  the  long  career  which,  first  in  the  House 
and  afterwards  in  tlie  Senate,  was  to  give  him 
place  among  the  undisputed  leaders  of  the  Whig 
party,  many  of  whose  members  at  one  time  re- 
garded him  as  an  available  candidate  for  the 
Presidency.  One  of  Mangum's  associates  was 
Romulus  M.  Saunders,  an  adroit  politician,  who 
in  the  Democratic  national  convention  of  1848 
wrought  the  undoing  of  Martin  Van  Buren. 

Willis  Alston  was  again  a  member  from  South 
Carolina,  which  also  sent  James  Hamilton,  a 
fiery  advocate  of  States'-rights,  and  George  Mc- 
Duffie,  an  austere,  grim-visaged  man,  who  as 
a  debater  had  few  equals  in  the  House.  Both 
Hamilton  and  AIcDuffie  were  afterwards  gov- 
ernor of  their  State,  and  enacted  leading  parts 
in  the  drama  of  nullification.  John  Speed  Smith, 
of  Kentucky,  had  served  under  Harrison  at 
Tippecanoe,  and  had  been  his  aide  in  the  battle 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

of  the  Thames.  Kentucky  sent  another  veteran 
of  1812  in  Charles  A.  Wickhffe,  whose  aristo- 
cratic bearing  had  early  won  for  him  the  name 
of  "  the  Duke,"  but  who  long  served  his  State 
and  country  in  many  honorable  stations.  John 
Forsyth  was  again  a  member  of  the  House  from 
Georgia,  and  Edward  Livingston  represented 
the  New  Orleans  district  of  Louisiana. 

Several  of  the  men  who  at  this  time  gained 
seats  in  the  Senate  hold  a  permanent  place  in 
history.  Littleton  W.  Tazewell  was  now  a  Sena- 
tor from  Virginia,  and  Pennsylvania  had  ad- 
vanced Samuel  D.  Ligham  from  the  House  to 
the  Senate.  Samuel  L.  Southard  represented 
New  Jersey.  David  Barton,  forceful  but  eccen- 
tric, was  Missouri's  junior  Senator,  and  from 
North  Carolina  came  John  Branch,  who  had 
been  governor  of  his  State,  and  later  was  to 
become  Jackson's  Secretary  of  the  Navy.  Ho- 
ratio Seymour,  son  of  an  eminent  soldier  of  the 
Revolution  and  himself  a  lawyer  and  jurist  of 
note,  was  a  Senator  from  Vermont. 

Robert  Y.  Hayne  in  1823  came  to  the  Senate 
from  South  Carolina.  He  was  then  only  thirty- 
two  years  of  age,  but  had  already  won  repute 
as  an  orator,  and  at  once  took  an  active  and 
214 


An   Era  of  Good  Feeling 

leading  part  in  debate.  Gifted  with  exceptional 
charm  of  manner,  Hayne  painted  his  own  por- 
trait when  he  once  said  of  Webster  that  he 
"  had  never  heard  him  utter  a  word  in  a  careless 
or  vulgar  style;  that  he  never  seemed  to  forget 
his  own  dignity  or  be  unmindful  of  the  character 
and  feelings  of  others."  A  close  and  logical 
reasoner,  whose  style  always  kept  pace  with  the 
elevation  of  his  theme,  Hayne  never  descended 
to  sophistry  or  took  unfair  advantage  of  an  ad- 
versary. No  man  was  more  warmly  loved  by 
his  fellow-Senators,  and  his  death  at  the  early 
age  of  forty-eight  was  a  loss  keenly  felt  far 
beyond  the  borders  of  his  own  State. 

Martin  Van  Buren  in  1821  entered  the  Senate 
from  New  York.  He  was  then  thirty-nine  years 
old,  but  had  been  for  a  dozen  years  or  more  one 
of  the  political  masters  of  his  State.  "  Within 
two  weeks,"  said  Rufus  King,  "  Van  Buren 
will  become  perfectly  accjuainted  with  the  views 
and  feelings  of  every  member  of  the  Senate, 
but  no  man  will  know  his."  This  prediction  was 
verified,  and  Van  Buren  soon  became  a  directing 
spirit  in  Senatorial  affairs,  althougli  no  one  was 
ever  able  to  quote  his  views.  Taking  Aaron 
Burr  as  his  political  model,  like  Burr  he  made 
215 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

attitude  and  deportment  a  study,  and  when,  on 
leaving  the  Senate,  his  household  furniture  was 
sold  at  auction,  it  was  noticed  that  the  carpet 
before  a  large  looking-glass  in  his  library  was 
worn  threadbare.  It  was  there  that  he  had 
rehearsed  his  speeches. 

Andrew  Jackson  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Senate  during  Monroe's  second  term.  His  voice 
was  rarely  heard  in  debate,  but  he  was  a  con- 
spicuous figure  in  all  public  and  social  gather- 
ings, and  Washington  had  pleasing  cause  to 
long  remember  the  ball  which  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
John  Quincy  Adams  gave  in  his  honor  on  Janu- 
ary 8,  1824.  President  Alonroe  was  one  of  the 
guests  at  this  ball,  and  he  and  Secretary  Adams 
were  somewhat  criticised  for  their  plain  attire, 
which,  along  with  that  of  General  Jackson  him- 
self, was  in  striking  contrast  to  the  elaborate 
costumes  worn  by  many  of  those  present.  No 
description  of  this  brilliant  assemblage,  which 
included  all  the  celebrities  of  Washington  and 
its  environs,  as  well  as  large  numbers  from  Bal- 
timore and  Richmond,  would  be  complete  with- 
out the  lines  in  honor  of  the  occasion  wdiich 
appeared    on    the    preceding    morning    in    the 


National  Intelligencer: 


216 


An   Era  of  Good   Feeling 

Wend  you  with  the  world  to-night  ? 

Brown  and  fair  and  wise  and  witty, 
Eyes  that  float  in  seas  of  light, 

Laughing  mouths  and  dimples  pretty. 
Belles  and  matrons,  maids  and  madams. 
All  are  gone  to  Mrs.  Adams'. 

Wend  you  with  the  world  to-night  ? 

Juno  in  her  court  presides. 
Mirth  and  melody  invite. 

Fashion  points  and  pleasure  guides  ! 
Haste  away,  then,  seize  the  hour, 
Shun  the  thorn  and  pluck  the  flower,  — 
Youth,  in  all  its  spring-time  blooming, 
Age  the  guise  of  youth  assuming. 
Wit  through  all  its  circles  beaming, 
Glittering  wealth  and  beauty  gleaming, 
Belles  and  matrons,  maids  and  madams. 
All  are  gone  to  Mrs.  Adams'. 

The  writer  of  the  foregoing  lines  was  John 
T.  Agg,  a  gifted  EngHshman  who  for  some  years 
edited  the  National  Journal,  a  daily  newspaper 
devoted  to  the  political  fortunes  of  John  C.  Cal- 
houn. Journalism  by  this  time  had  become  a 
recognized  and  important  feature  of  capital  life. 
The  founding  of  the  National  Intelligencer  has 
been  noted  in  an  earlier  chapter.  When  Samuel 
Harrison  Smith,  the  first  proprietor,  gave  over 
its  control  to  his  young  assistant,  Joseph  Gales, 
217 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

the  latter  associated  with  himself  his  kinsman, 
William  W.  Seaton.  This  was  in  i8ro,  and 
until  1820  Gales  and  Seaton  w^re  the  exclusive 
reporters  of  Congress,  one  taking  charge  of  the 
proceedings  in  the  Senate  and  the  other  in  the 
House.  Seaton,  moreover,  was  a  writer  of 
originality  and  force,  and  under  his  direction 
the  Intelligencer  speedily  became,  and  for  many 
years  remained,  one  of  the  most  influential 
newspapers  of  the  country. 

Washington's  corps  of  correspondents,  how- 
ever, has  been  from  the  earliest  period  the  city's 
distinctive  contribution  to  journalism.  One  of 
the  first  of  these  to  attract  attention  was  James 
Cheetham,  an  Englishman  of  marked  personal- 
ity, who  for  a  dozen  years  edited  the  New  York 
Citizen.  He  resided  in  Washington  during  the 
sessions  of  Congress  and  wrote  letters  for  his 
paper,  which,  from  his  intimacy  with  Jefferson, 
came  soon  to  have  the  force  of  official  utterance. 

Other  Washington  correspondents  of  note 
during  the  opening  years  of  the  century  were 
James  Duane,  who,  as  the  editor  of  the  Phila- 
delphia Aurora,  appeared  most  often  to  write 
with  a  pen  charged  with  vitriol ;  IMatthew  L. 
Davis,  the  truculent  friend  of  Aaron  Burr,  who 
21S 


An   Era   of  Good   Feeling 

wrote  for  the  Xew  York  Courier  and  Enquirer 
under  tlie  pen-name  of  ''  the  Spy  in  Washing- 
ton ;"  Joseph  T.  Buckingham,  whose  spirited 
and  sarcastic  letters  to  the  Boston  Courier  rarely 
failed  to  raise  a  storm  in  the  Capitol ;  Jonathan 
Elliott,  an  English  soldier  of  fortune  who  had 
fought  under  Bolivar  for  the  independence  of 
New  Grenada;  Peter  Force,  founder  of  the 
National  Journal  and  stout  defender  of  John 
Quincy  Adams ;  Colonel  Samuel  L.  Knapp,  who 
passed  several  winters  at  the  capital  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  Boston  Galaxy;  Lund  Wash- 
ington, a  distant  relative  of  the  first  President; 
Nathaniel  Carter,  of  the  New  York  Statesman; 
Daniel  L.  Child,  of  the  Boston  Advertiser ;  and 
Richard  Houghton,  afterwards  editor  of  the 
Boston  Atlas.  The  first  person  to  establish  him- 
self permanently  as  a  professional  correspondent 
at  the  capital  was  Elias  Kingman,  a  native  of 
Rhode  Island  and  graduate  from  Brown  Uni- 
versity, who  in  1822  took  up  his  residence  in 
Washington,  where  for  nearly  forty  years  he 
wrote  for  the  New  York  Commercial  Advertiser 
and  Journal  of  Commerce,  the  Charleston  Cou- 
rier, the  Baltimore  Sun,  and  the  Xew  Orleans 

Picayune.     James  Brooks,  of  the  Portland  Ad- 
219 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

vertiscr,  who  has  been  styled  the  fatlier  of  Wash- 
ington correspondence,  did  not  write  his  first 
letter  from  the  capital  until  1832. 

Knapp,  Kingman,  and  the  rest  found  fruitful 
subjects  for  their  pens  in  the  events  which  cul- 
minated in  the  Presidential  contest  of  1824. 
The  approach  of  the  election  in  that  year  found 
four  candidates  before  the  people.  These  were 
Jackson,  Crawford,  Adams,  and  Clay.  The 
candidacy  of  Clay  had  been  in  assiduous  prepa- 
ration ever  since  his  return  from  Europe  ten 
years  before,  with  a  matured  resolve  to  become 
Monroe's  successor.  That,  according  to  prece- 
dent, he  might  stand  next  in  line  of  promotion. 
Clay  had  desired  to  be  Secretary  of  State  in 
Monroe's  Cabinet ;  and  when  this  post  was  given 
to  Adams,  who  thus  became  the  Administration 
candidate  for  the  Presidential  succession,  he  at 
once  made  war  on  Monroe  and  his  advisers. 
His  speeches  in  the  House  denounced  as  in- 
sincere Monroe's  constitutional  objections  to  in- 
ternal improvements,  a  policy  of  which  Clay 
had  early  made  himself  the  champion,  and  he 
also  savagely  assailed  the  President's  failure  to 
give  prompt  recognition  to  Spain's  revolted 
colonies  in  Central  and  South  America. 


An   Era  of  Good   Feeling 

Both  assaults  failed  of  their  purpose;  nor 
did  success  attend  Clay's  next  parliamentary 
battle  with  the  Administration,  excuse  for  which 
was  found  in  Jackson's  operations  in  the  Semi- 
nole War.  Some  of  Jackson's  acts  had  exceeded 
his  instructions  and  violated  international  law, 
yet  so  great  was  the  popularity  of  the  "  Hero 
of  New  Orleans"  that  the  Administration  did 
not  venture  to  censure  him.  Not  so  with  Clay, 
who,  when  Congress  met  in  December,  1818, 
proposed  condemnatory  resolutions  in  the  House 
and  warmly  supported  them  in  debate.  In  the 
minds  of  the  people,  however,  Jackson  had  done 
the  right  thing,  even  if  in  the  wrong  way. 
Clay's  resolutions  were  decisively  rejected,  and 
his  attacks  upon  Jackson  proved  the  most  far- 
reaching  and  calamitous  of  his  political  mistakes. 
The  fateful  feud  between  these  two  masterful 
personalities  dated  from  their  delivery.  "  Jack- 
son," says  Parton,  "  never  hated  any  one  so 
bitterly  as  he  hated  Henry  Clay." 

Clay's  repeated  defeats  in  his  warfare  with 
the  Monroe  Administration  told  heavily  against 
him,  but  his  part  in  the  ^Missouri  Compromise, 
and  in  the  framing  and  enactment  of  the  tariff 
of  1824, — a  bill  more  thoroughly  and  system- 
221 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

atically  protective  than  any  ever  1)cfore  re- 
ported to  Congress, — did  much  to  restore  his 
peculiar  and  remarkable  prestige.  Not  enough, 
hovvrever,  to  make  him  Monroe's  successor. 
None  of  the  four  candidates  for  the  Presidency 
in  1824  secured  a  majority  of  the  Electoral 
College.  The  election  was  thus  devolved  upon 
the  House,  with  choice  to  be  made  from  the 
three  candidates — Jackson,  Adams,  and  Craw- 
ford— who  had  received  the  most  electoral  votes, 
ninety-nine,  eighty-four,  and  forty-one,  respec- 
tively. This  debarred  Clay,  who  had  received 
but  thirty-seven  electoral  votes. 

Had  Clay  been  one  of  the  three  highest  can- 
didates, his  popularity  in  the  House,  of  which 
he  was  again  and  for  the  last  time  Speaker, 
would  have  secured  his  election.  As  it  was, 
his  preference  would  determine  the  result.  Un- 
der ordinary  circumstances  he  undoubtedly 
would  have  supported  Crawford,  but  the  latter 
had  recently  suffered  a  shock  of  paralysis  so 
severe  as  to  shatter  his  health.  This  disable- 
ment was  scarcely  a  greater  misfortune  to  Craw- 
ford than  it  proved  to  be  to  Clay,  who  was 
thus  forced,  as  he  expressed  it,  to  make  a  choice 
of  evils, — Jackson  or  Adams.     Without  delay 


An   Era   of  Good   Feeling 

he  announced  to  his  friends  that  he  had  decided 
to  support  Adams. 

Clay's  determination  no  sooner  became 
known,  however,  than  some  of  Jackson's  friends 
attempted  to  drive  him  from  it.  The  weapon 
used  for  this  purpose  recalls  one  of  the  most 
discreditable  incidents  in  American  politics.  A 
few  days  before  the  time  set  for  the  election 
in  the  House  a  letter  appeared  in  a  Philadelphia 
newspaper  asserting  that  Clay  had  agreed  to  sup- 
port Adams  upon  condition  that  Clay  be  made 
Secretary  of  State.  The  same  terms,  the  letter 
alleged,  had  been  offered  to  Jackson's  friends, 
but  none  of  them  would  "  descend  to  such  mean 
barter  and  sale."  The  letter  was  anonymous, 
but  purported  to  be  written  by  a  member  of  the 
House.  Clay  at  once  published  a  card  in  which 
he  pronounced  the  writer  "  a  dastard  and  a 
liar,"  who,  if  he  dared  avow  his  name,  would 
forthwith  be  called  to  the  field. 

Two  days  later  the  letter  was  acknowledged 
by  a  witless  member  from  Pennsylvania,  Kremer 
by  name,  who  asserted  that  the  statements  he 
had  made  were  true,  and  that  he  was  ready  to 
prove  them.  A  duel  with  such  a  character  was 
out  of  the  question.     Something,  however,  had 

22.'5 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

to  be  done,  and  Clay  immediately  demanded  an 
investigation  by  a  special  committee  of  the 
House.  Such  a  committee  was  duly  elected. 
None  of  its  seven  members  had  supported  Clay 
for  the  Presidency.  Kremer  promptly  declared 
his  willingness  to  meet  the  inquiry;  but  in  the 
end  the  committee  reported  that  he  had  declined 
to  appear  before  it,  sending  instead  a  communi- 
cation in  which  he  denied  the  constitutional 
power  of  the  House  to  compel  him  to  testify. 
No  further  official  action  was  taken,  and  in  this 
shape  the  matter,  for  the  time  being,  rested. 

The  election  of  a  President  by  the  House  took 
place  on  February  9,  1825,  in  the  presence  of 
the  Senate.  Adams,  supported  by  his  own  and 
the  friends  of  Clay,  was  elected  on  the  first 
ballot. 


224 


CHAPTER    IX 

THE    YOUNGER    ADAMS 

IMPOSING  ceremonies  marked  the  inaugu- 
ration on  March  4,  1825,  of  John  Ouincy 
Adams  as  sixth  President  of  the  United  States, 
for,  in  deference  to  what  were  considered  to  be 
the  desires  of  the  President-elect,  officials  and 
citizens  vied  with  each  other  in  adding  elaborate 
features  to  the  affair.  Adams  was  attended  to 
and  from  the  Capitol  by  marines,  the  military, 
and  citizens,  but  changed  the  programme  of  his 
predecessors  by  delivering  his  inaugural  address 
before  taking  the  oath  of  office.  After  the  lat- 
ter event  he  received  the  congratulations  of  his 
friends,  and  then  went  to  his  room  and  made 
up  the  list  of  Cabinet  officers  to  be  sent  to  the 
Senate. 

The  new  President,  a  squat,  square- jawed, 
florid-faced  man  of  fifty-eight,  had  been  more 
than  forty  years  in  the  public  service  when  he 
took  up  his  residence  in  the  White  House.  A 
more    interesting    and     distinctive    personality 

never  dwelt  therein.     A  man  of  stainless  purity, 
I.— IS  225 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

honorable,  patriotic,  and  independent  to  a  fault, 
the  younger  Adams  was  guided  at  every  turn 
of  his  long  career  by  an  elevated  morality  and 
a  rigid  political  honesty  as  rare  as  they  were 
admirable.  This  is  the  bright  side  of  the  pic- 
ture; the  reverse  reveals  a  man  dogmatic,  ran- 
corous, vindictive,  and  bitterly  censorious,  who, 
having  no  sympathy  with  and  eliciting  none 
from  the  public  men  with  whom  he  was  brought 
in  contact,  was  suspicious,  uncharitable,  and  un- 
just in  his  judgments  of  them,  and  unable  to 
act  in  concert  with  them  for  the  general  wel- 
fare. 

The  course  Adams  pursued  while  President 
demonstrated  his  honesty  and  independence,  and 
that  he  was  entirely  without  political  art.  Mi- 
nutely faithful  to  his  ofhcial  duties,  he  not  only 
examined  the  details  of  the  executive  business 
as  it  was  transacted  in  the  several  bureaus  and 
departments,  but  passed  many  of  his  evenings 
mechanically  signing  patents  and  land  warrants. 
His  annual  and  special  messages  to  Congress  dis- 
played immense  information  and  profound  re- 
flection ;  but  many  of  his  recommendations  were 
without  practical  value,  and  fell  still-born  from 
his  pen.  He  sought,  moreover,  to  conciliate  his 
226 


The  Younger  Adams 

opponents  by  attempting  in  his  inaugural  mes- 
sage to  ignore  party  lines,  and  from  first  to 
last  his  appointments  were  made  without  regard 
to  the  political  opinions  of  the  appointees.  The 
result  of  this  policy  was  speedily  apparent :  it 
won  him  no  new  friends  and  it  alienated  his 
old  ones.  Before  the  close  of  his  first  year  in 
of^ce  he  found  himself,  as  his  father  had  before 
him.  a  President  without  a  party. 

The  furniture  of  the  White  House  had  fallen 
into  sorry  state  when  Adams  became  President. 
When  Congress  voted  a  modest  sum  to  furbish 
and  replenish  it,  the  President  took  personal 
charge  of  the  work,  and  one  of  his  first  acts 
was  to  buy  the  silver  plate  of  Mr.  Crawford. 
This  was  savagely  criticised  by  the  opposition 
press,  as  was  the  purchase  of  a  billiard-table 
for  the  White  House,  and  the  plain  people  were 
made  to  believe  that  the  President  was  living 
at  their  expense  in  a  style  of  regal  splendor. 
Never  was  a  man  more  falsely  accused.  The 
truth  is  that  Mr.  Adams  lived  in  great  simplicity, 
based  upon  the  economical  spirit  that  controlled 
every  action  of  his  life. 

It  was  his  custom  while  President  to  rise 
between  four  and  six  o'clock,  according  to  the 
227 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

season,  and  either  take  a  ride  on  horseljack  or 
walk  to  the  Potomac,  where  he  bathed,  remain- 
ing in  the  water  for  an  hour  or  more  in  sum- 
mer. Returning  to  the  White  House,  he  read 
two  chapters  of  Scott's  Bible  and  the  corre- 
sponding commentary  of  Hewlett,  and  then 
glanced  over  the  morning  papers  and  the  bud- 
gets sent  from  the  departments.  He  break- 
fasted at  nine,  and  from  ten  until  four  he  re- 
mained in  the  executive  office,  presiding  over 
Cabinet  meetings,  receiving  visitors,  or  consid- 
ering questions  of  state.  Then,  after  a  long 
walk,  or  a  short  ride  on  horseback,  he  would 
sit  down  to  dine  at  half-past  five,  and  after 
dinner  resume  his  public  duties,  laboring  habit- 
ually until  far  into  the  night. 

Adams's  diary  affords  many  diverting  proofs 
of  his  simple  and  democratic  habits.  On  one 
occasion  he  imperiled  his  life  by  attempting  to 
cross  the  Potomac  in  a  small  boat,  accompanied 
by  his  son  John  and  by  his  steward,  Antoine 
Giusta.  Intending  to  swim  back,  they  had  taken 
off  nearly  all  of  their  clothes,  which  were  in  the 
boat.  When  about  half-way  across,  a  gust  of 
wind  capsized  the  boat  and  forced  its  occupants 
to  abandon  it  and  swim  for  their  lives  to  the 
22S 


The  Younger  Adams 

Virginia  shore.  Antoine,  by  taking  what  gar- 
ments each  one  had  on,  managed  to  clothe  him- 
self decently,  and  started  across  the  bridge  to 
Washington,  while  the  President  and  his  son 
swam  in  the  river  or  walked  to  and  fro  on  the 
shore.  The  steward  reappeared  at  the  end  of 
the  second  hour  with  clothing  and  a  carriage, 
in  which  they  returned  to  Washington.  Adams 
that  day  purchased  a  watch  to  replace  the  one 
Antoine  had  lost  in  the  boat,  and  he  alluded  to 
the  adventure  that  night  in  his  diary  as  "  a 
humiliating  lesson,  and  a  solemn  warning  not 
to  trifle  with  danger." 

Adams's  private  secretary  while  President  was 
his  son  John,  a  graduate  from  Harvard,  who 
had  inherited  many  of  his  father's  peculiarities, 
and  who  on  several  occasions  found  himself  with 
an  ugly  quarrel  on  his  hands.  A  Washington 
editor,  Russell  Jarvis  by  name,  angered  at  some 
remark  John  Adams  had  made  at  a  White  House 
levee,  once  challenged  him  to  a  duel,  and  when 
the  challenge  was  declined,  attempted  to  assault 
him  in  the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol,  but  was  pre- 
vented from  so  doing  by  a  by-stander.  The 
President  made  the  occurrence  the  subject  of  a 
special  message  to  Congress,  and  the  House 
229 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

appointed  a  committee  of  investigation,  which 
made  an  elaborate  report,  but  did  not  recommend 
that  any  punishment  be  inflicted  upon  Jarvis. 
John  Adams  was  married,  while  his  father  oc- 
cupied the  White  House,  to  his  cousin,  Miss 
Mary  Hellen,  and  it  is  related  that  the  President, 
usually  so  grave  and  unsocial,  unbent  for  the 
nonce,  and  danced  at  the  wedding  ball  in  a  Vir- 
ginia reel  with  great  spirit. 

Louisa  Catherine  Johnson,  the  wife  of  the 
President, — her  portrait  painted  by  Leslie  shows 
a  woman  of  grace,  culture,  and  distinction, — 
was  born,  educated,  and  married  in  London 
when  her  father,  brother  of  the  first  Republican 
governor  of  Maryland,  was  American  consul 
there.  As  bride  and  wife  she  shared  her  hus- 
band's honors  as  Senator,  minister,  and  Secre- 
tary of  State.  Mistress  of  all  the  arts  of  society, 
her  entertainments  in  the  White  House  were 
events  of  memorable  import  in  the  social  world. 
She  not  only  kept  up  the  evening  levees  insti- 
tuted by  Mrs.  Madison  and  continued  by  Mrs. 
Monroe,  but  improved  the  quality  of  the  re- 
freshments, which  were  handed  around  on 
waiters  by  servants.  State  dinners  were  also 
given  during  the  session  of  Congress,  to  which 
230 


The  Younger   Adams 

were  invited  such  Senators  and  Representatives 
as  had  called  at  the  \\'hite  House  to  pay  their 
respects.  Sectional  rancor  or  the  spite  of  party 
had  no  place  at  Mrs.  Adams's  teas  and  recep- 
tions, and  she  improved  every  opportunity  for 
making  the  Administration  of  her  husband  pop- 
ular. 

The  Washington  drawing-rooms  during  the 
social  reign  of  Mrs.  /\dams  housed  no  more 
brilliant  figure  than  the  daughter  of  General 
John  Adair,  a  stately  Kentucky  beauty  who  had 
married  Joseph  M.  White,  then  delegate  in  Con- 
gress from  Florida.  Visiting  Europe  in  after- 
years,  she  was  received  in  the  highest  circles, 
and  a  characteristic  story  is  told  of  her  attend- 
ance at  a  fancy  ball  given  by  one  of  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Bonaparte  family.  On  receiving  the 
invitation,  she  called  on  her  hostess  and  asked 
what  she  should  wear.  "  An  American  cos- 
tume, of  course,"  was  the  reply.  "  We  have  no 
original  American  costumes,"  said  Mrs.  White; 
"  we  follow  your  fashions."  "  But,"  answered 
the  princess,  "  you  are  a  Kentuckian,  and  surely 
you  have  Indians  in  Kentucky."  Mrs.  White 
accepted  the  hint,  and  appeared  at  the  ball  as 
an  Indian  girl,  gay  with  beads  and  feathers,  a 
231 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

quiver  at  her  back  and  a  bow  in  her  hand.  Her 
tall  and  graceful  figure  never  showed  to  greater 
advantage,  and  she  was  ever  afterwards  known 
in  Paris  as  "  la  belle  sauvage." 

Ireland  at  this  period  contributed  to  the  so- 
ciety of  the  capital  the  widow  and  son  of  Theo- 
bald Wolf  Tone,  the  ill-starred  founder  of  the 
United  Irishmen.  Eagerly  greeted  also  at  the 
fashionable  gatherings  of  Adams's  time  were 
Francis  Scott  Key,  pensive  singer  of  piety  and 
patriotism,  already  famous  as  the  author  of  the 
"  Star-Spangled  Banner ;"  John  Pendleton  Ken- 
nedy, a  literary  cavalier  in  the  best  sense  of  the 
term,  whose  "  Swallow  Barn"  and  "  Horseshoe 
Robinson"  still  find  readers,  and  Robert  Trim- 
ble, jurist,  wit,  and  man  of  the  world,  who,  in 
1826,  was  given  the  seat  on  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  which  he  held  until  his  death. 

Another  conspicuous  personality  of  the  social 
period  under  review  was  Benjamin  Ogle  Tayloe, 
second  son  of  Colonel  William  Tayloe.  A  grad- 
uate from  Harvard  and  later  a  student  in  the 
law-office  of  Richard  Rush,  the  younger  Tayloe, 
when,  in  1824,  he  married  Julia  Maria  Dicken- 
son, of  Troy,  New  ^^ork,  intended  to  pursue 
the  life  of  a  country  gentleman  on  his  Virginia 
232 


The   Younger   Adams 

estate.  This  life,  however,  was  not  so  congenial 
to  his  wife  as  to  himself.  She  desired  a  town 
house,  and  accordingly  he  built  and  occupied 
the  spacious  residence,  now  21  Madison  Place, 
Lafayette  Square.  This  house,  until  its  owner's 
death  in  1868,  was  the  scene  of  a  generous  yet 
discriminating  hospitality.  Remaining  stead- 
fastly in  private  life,  against  many  solicitations 
to  accept  office,  its  master  nevertheless  exerted 
a  powerful  influence  in  national  affairs,  and  was 
the  intimate  and  trusted  friend  of  half  a  dozen 
Presidents.  Few  men  have  better  understood 
the  bearing  of  the  social  relations  on  political 
questions,  or  employed  it  more  skilfully  in  the 
service  of  their  friends. 

Residents  of  the  capital  in  the  late  '20s  had 
at  their  command  few  amusements  in  the  re- 
stricted sense  of  the  word.  One  of  these  was 
horse-racing,  while  the  Washington  Theatre, 
first  opened  to  the  public  in  August,  182 1,  was 
occasionally  occupied  by  a  company  of  actors 
from  Philadelphia,  who  journeyed  every  winter 
as  far  south  as  Savannah,  performing  in  the 
intermediate  towns  on  the  way.  President 
Adams  first  made  acquaintance  with  the  elder 
Booth  when  that  tragedian  accompanied  one  of 
233 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

these  dramatic  expeditions  as  its  chief  attrac- 
tion. On  another  occasion  he  saw  Edwin  For- 
rest, then  a  youth  without  repute  or  influence, 
and  enjoyed  the  finished  acting  of  Thomas 
Cooper  as  Charles  Surface  in  the  "  School  for 
Scandal."  In  shrewd  contrast  with  these  rare 
nights  at  the  play,  Washington  was  also  favored 
once  a  year  with  a  discourse,  usually  in  the  open 
air,  by  the  famous  itinerant  preacher,  Lorenzo 
Dow,  whose  style  of  impassioned  oratory  was 
as  singular  as  the  matter  of  his  sermons  and 
his  personal  appearance.  Tall  and  well  formed, 
with  pale  and  emaciated  features  emphasized 
by  hair  and  beard  of  inky  blackness,  he  always 
spoke  wdth  great  earnestness,  and  counted  his 
converts  by  thousands.  Dow,  who  is  said  to 
have  preached  to  more  persons  than  any  man  of 
his  time,  died  in  Georgetown  in  1834. 

"  Half-breed  Indian  preacher"  was  the  nick- 
name given  to  one  Eleazer  Williams,  an  occa- 
sional sojourner  in  Washington  during  the 
Adams  Administration,  who  afterwards  won 
notoriety  as  the  Lost  Prince  of  the  House  of 
Bourbon.  A  Seneca  Indian  with  a  dash  of 
white  blood  in  his  veins,  Williams  had  been 
carefully  educated,  and  later  as  a  missionary 
234 


The   Younger   Adams 

had  preached  with  eloquence  and  persuasive 
power  to  the  red  men  of  the  Northwest.  His 
appearance  at  the  capital  was  in  the  doubtful 
role  of  a  lobbyist  seeking  the  ratification  of  a 
treaty  under  which  the  Senecas  then  resident  in 
New  York  were  to  be  removed  to  the  West. 
This  task  he  had  undertaken,  it  was  said,  at  the 
instance  of  certain  speculators  who  wanted  the 
New  York  lands  vacated  and  who  paid  him  well 
for  his  services.  One  who  met  Williams  at  this 
time  described  him  as  "  a  man  who  might  have 
sat  for  the  head  upon  a  louis-d'or,  of  large  frame 
and  swarthy  complexion,  and  of  the  lift  of  head 
and  heavily  moulded  face  that  marked  the  Bour- 
bons." It  was  not  until  a  much  later  period, 
however,  that  he  put  forth  his  claim  to  be  the 
lost  Dauphin  of  France,  a  claim  vigorously 
scouted  at  the  time,  and  since  emphatically  re- 
jected as  one  of  the  fpbles  of  history. 

President  Adams  in  forming  his  Cabinet 
gathered  about  him  men  of  first-rate  ability. 
James  Barbour  was  made  Secretary  of  War, 
but  upon  his  appointment  as  minister  to  England 
in  June,  1828,  was  succeeded  by  General  Peter 
B.  Porter.  The  Treasury  portfolio  was  given 
to  Richard  Rush,  son  of  Washington's  surgeon- 


Washington  :   The   Federal   City 

general,  wlio  had  already  performed  distin- 
jjuished  service  as  a  Cabinet  officer  and  as  min- 
ister to  En,gland.  Samuel  L.  Southard  was 
retained  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy  and  William 
Wirt  as  Attorney-General,  while  John  McLean 
continued  to  fill  the  office  of  Postmaster-General, 
not  then  a  Cabinet  post,  during  the  whole  of 
Adams's  term.  Henry  Clay,  who  had  been  made 
Secretary  of  State,  was,  of  course,  the  most 
important  member  of  the  Cabinet.  Clay's  ser- 
vices as  a  Cabinet  minister  were  always  effective 
and  often  brilliant,  especially  on  the  social  side, 
his  intercourse  with  foreign  ministers  affording 
abundant  opportunity  for  the  display  of  all  the 
charms  of  his  unequalled  courtesy.  His  Wednes- 
day dinners  and  his  pleasant  evening  receptions 
were  remembered  for  many  years. 

John  W.  Taylor,  of  New  York,  succeeded 
Clay  as  Speaker  of  the  House,  but  at  the  end 
of  a  single  term  gave  way  to  Andrew  Steven- 
son, of  Virginia,  who  held  the  chair  until  1834. 
One  of  the  ablest  of  the  new  members  of  the 
House  in  the  Nineteenth  Congress  was  Tristam 
Burges,  a  Rhode  Island  lawyer,  whose  fame 
had  preceded  him  to  Washington,  and  whose 
sarcastic  wit  and  constant  readiness  for  battle 

2.?6 


The   Younger   Adams 

quickly  proved  him  an  antagonist  to  be  feared 
and  avoided.  John  Randolph,  the  Ishmael  of 
the  House,  who  up  to  that  time  had  found  no 
one  able  or  willing  to  cope  with  him,  met  his 
equal  in  the  bent,  white-haired  New  Englander. 
In  one  of  their  many  encounters  Burges,  after 
likening  Randolph  to  some  hideous  monster, 
exclaimed,  "  But,  thank  God,  Mr.  Speaker,  mon- 
sters cannot  perpetuate  their  species  !"  alluding 
to  the  generally  accepted  belief  that  Randolph 
could  never  be  a  father.  "  The  gentleman," 
was  Randolph's  retort,  "  makes  a  boast  of  his 
virility :  he  boasts  of  that  in  which  the  goat  is 
his  equal  and  the  jackass  his  superior." 

Burges  served  eight  years  in  the  House.  John 
Davis,  a  legislator  of  marked  independence  and 
breadth  of  vision,  was  during  the  same  period 
a  member  from  Massachusetts.  Edward  Ever- 
ett, noted  alike  for  learning  and  for  eloquence, 
was  also,  from  1825  until  1835,  a  member  of 
the  Massachusetts  delegation.  New  York  sent 
General  Aaron  Ward,  a  soldier  turned  lawyer, 
and  Silas  Wright,  who  claimed  to  be  a  good 
farmer  but  no  orator,  yet  who  soon  became 
noted  for  the  compactness  and  force  of  his 
logic.  Pennsylvania  returned  Charles  Jared 
237 


Washington  :    The    Federal    City 

Ingersoll,  caustic  and  self-confident  as  of  old, 
and  Richard  Henry  Wilde,  now  at  the  meridian 
of  his  powers,  once  more  held  a  place  in  the 
Georgia  delegation. 

One  of  the  new  members  from  Virginia  was 
George  C.  Washington,  a  collateral  descendant 
of  the  first  President.  Two  other  bearers  of 
historic  names  entered  the  House  with  Washing-- 
ton, — Ambrose  H.  Sevier,  nephew  of  the  Ten- 
nessee pioneer  and  State-builder,  and  Chittenden 
Lyon,  son  of  doughty  Matthew  Lyon.  Sevier, 
a  man  of  undoubted  parts,  served  in  the  House 
until  1836,  and  then  for  a  dozen  years  was  a 
Senator  from  his  adopted  State, — Arkansas. 
The  younger  Lyon  inherited  the  impetuous  tem- 
per and  ready  wit  of  his  father,  and  was,  besides, 
a  man  of  gigantic  stature,  strength,  and  prow- 
ess, qualities  which  caused  him  to  be  both  loved 
and  feared  by  the  people  of  the  Kentucky  bor- 
der, who  four  times  elected  him  to  represent 
them  in  the  House.  Edward  Bates,  of  Missouri, 
then  a  young  man  of  thirty-four,  sat  in  the 
Twentieth  Congress  as  an  anti-Democrat.  He 
declined  re-election,  but  in  a  later  and  very  dif- 
ferent  era    was   to    return   to    Washington   to 

become  Attorney-General  in  Lincoln's  Cabinet. 
238 


The   Younger   Adams 

The  Twentieth  Congress  also  incUided  three 
new  members  from  Tennessee,  each  of  whom 
was  destined  to  win  a  permanent  place  in  his- 
tory. One  of  these  was  James  K.  Polk,  a  keen, 
austere  Puritan  of  the  South,  who  thus  entered 
upon  the  part  in  national  affairs  which  was  to 
lead  him  through  the  Speakership  to  the  Presi- 
dency, With  Polk  came  John  Bell,  still  under 
thirty,  but  already  eminent  as  a  lawyer,  who, 
in  the  course  of  a  long  and  luminous  public 
career,  was  to  become  Speaker  of  the  House, 
Cabinet  minister.  Senator,  and  finally,  in  the 
evening  of  his  days,  leader  of  a  forlorn  hope 
in  the  Presidential  contest  of  i860.  David 
Crockett,  typical  backwoodsman  and  Indian 
fighter,  completed  a  noteworthy  trio.  This 
singular  man,  first  elected  to  the  House  in  1825, 
served  three  terms  in  that  body,  where,  though 
uncouth  and  eccentric  in  manner,  his  native 
shrewdness  and  common  sense  gave  him  un- 
common influence. 

At  the  same  time  Crockett's  unfailing  wit 
and  good  nature  won  him  instant  popularity 
with  his  fellows,  who  often  sought  to  make  him 
a  butt  for  their  jokes,  but  always  to  their  sor- 
row. He  was  sitting  one  day  in  the  office  of 
239 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

the  Indian  Oueen  Hotel.  Near  him  stood  a 
member  of  the  House  from  Massachusetts  look- 
ing out  at  the  street.  Suddenly  he  called  out, 
"  Oh,  Crockett,  here  comes  some  of  your  con- 
stituents." The  colonel — he  had  held  command 
of  a  militia  regiment  in  Tennessee — walked 
to  the  door  and  saw  before  him  a  drove  of  mules 
ambling  down  the  street.  "  Where  are  they 
going?"  asked  the  member  from  New  England. 
"  They  are  going  to  Massachusetts  to  teach 
school,"  replied  Crockett,  without  changing  the 
expression  of  his  face,  and  then  quietly  resumed 
his  seat.  When  the  influence  of  Jackson,  whom 
he  had  first  supported  and  then  opposed,  made 
it  impossible  for  Crockett  to  be  again  elected 
to  Congress,  he  joined  the  Texans  in  their  strug- 
gle for  independence,  and,  having  performed 
various  heroic  exploits,  put  the  seal  of  martyr- 
dom on  his  adventurous  life  in  the  famous  de- 
fence of  the  Alamo,  where,  as  one  of  the  six 
survivors  of  a  band  of  seven-score  Texans,  he 
surrendered  to  Santa  Anna,  only  to  be  mas- 
sacred by  that  officer's  orders. 

The    opening    of    the    Nineteenth    Congress 
found  John  C  Calhoun  presiding  officer  of  the 
Senate.     The  preceding  year  he  had  put  aside 
240 


The  Younger   Adams 

a  long-cherished  Presidential  ambition  in  favor 
of  Jackson.  He  had  secured  by  so  doing  his 
own  election  as  Vice-President  by  a  large  ma- 
jority, and  with  this  honor  a  promise  from  the 
friends  of  Jackson  that  when  their  hero  had  won 
and  held  the  Presidency  Calhoun  should  be  his 
successor.  By  instinct  and  by  education  a  par- 
liamentary leader,  Calhoun  must  have  found  it 
most  irksome  to  be  forced  to  dumbly  listen  to 
debates  in  which  he  was  eager  to  participate; 
yet  his  Vice-Presidency  marks  a  decisive  epoch 
in  his  intellectual  development.  The  station, 
from  its  leisure,  gave  him  abundant  opportunity 
for  study,  and  it  was  at  this  time  that  he  laid 
the  foundations  of  the  school  of  political  phi- 
losophy with  which  his  name  is  identified. 

John  M.  Berrien,  a  native  of  New  Jersey,  upon 
whom  Georgia,  his  adopted  State,  had  early 
showered  high  honors,  took,  in  1825,  a  seat  in 
the  Senate,  where  his  clear  and  impressive  ora- 
tory won  for  him  the  title  of  the  "  American 
Cicero."  Kentucky  sent  John  Rowan,  who,  like 
Berrien,  had  already  performed  eminent  ser- 
vices as  a  lawyer  and  jurist.  Powhatan  Ellis, 
another  judge  and  advocate  of  more  than  local 
repute,  was  now  a  Senator  from  Mississippi.  In- 
I.— 16  241 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

diana  had  promoted  William  Hendricks  from  the 
House  to  the  Senate,  and  Pennsylvania  supplied 
a  unique  Senatorial  figure  in  William  Markle,  a 
wilderness-bred  tanner,  whose  quiet  industry- 
left  an  abiding  mark  on  the  legislation  of  his 
time.  A  more  consideralole  figure  than  any  of 
the  group  just  mentioned  was  alert  and  self- 
contained  Levi  Woodbury,  whose  single  term 
as  a  Senator  from  New  Hampshire  was  to  win 
him  the  title,  conferred  by  Benton,  of  "  the  rock 
of  the  New  England  Democracy,"  and  with  it 
a  place  in  Jackson's  Cabinet. 

General  Jackson  having  been  formally  re- 
nominated for  the  Presidency  by  the  Tennessee 
Legislature  in  the  fall  of  1825,  resigned  from 
the  Senate.  The  seat  left  vacant  was  taken  by 
Hugh  L.  White,  an  exceptional  man,  who,  after 
having  fought  with  Sevier  against  the  Chero- 
kees,  had  studied  law  in  a  log  cabin,  becoming  at 
the  age  of  twenty-eight  a  justice  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Tennessee.  Judge  White  was  fifty- 
two  years  old  when  he  entered  the  Senate,  and 
he  served  there  fifteen  years.  Seldom  has  the 
Senate  chamber  held  a  more  winning  or  striking 
figure.  Tall  and  slender,  his  strong  and  thought- 
ful face  was  crowned  by  a  shock  of  snowy  hair 
242 


The   Younger    Adams 

which  even  in  middle  hfe  gave  him  the  dignity 
and  serenity  of  old  age.  And  the  outer  spoke 
the  inner  man.  Endowed  with  extraordinary 
mental  power,  a  learned  lawyer  and  a  ripe  and 
profound  scholar,  he  was  also  upright  and  sin- 
cere, "  as  sternly  honest  as  Cato,  as  scrupulously 
just  as  Aristides."  Thus,  as  a  Senator,  he  from 
the  first  took  and  held  a  place  in  the  front  rank. 
No  man  ever  left  the  Senate — irreconcilable  dif- 
ferences with  his  old  friend  Jackson  finally  com- 
pelled his  resignation — followed  by  a  more  gen- 
eral and  affectionate  regret.  Judge  \\niite  died 
five  months  after  he  retired  from  public  life. 

Daniel  Webster  was  advanced  from  the  House 
to  the  Senate  in  1827,  and  in  the  same  year 
John  Tyler  was  returned  to  the  latter  body  from 
Virginia,  succeeding  John  Randolph,  who  had 
been  appointed  two  years  before  to  fill  a  va- 
cancy. Randolph's  course  in  the  Senate  dupli- 
cated his  previous  performance  in  the  House, 
one  of  his  speeches  involving  him  in  a  duel  with 
Henry  Clay. 

Randolph's  attack  on  the  Secretary  of  State 
and  the  duel  which  followed  it,  however,  were 
only  minor  incidents  in  a  contest  for  the  Presi- 
dency which  may  be  said  to  have  extended  over 
243 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

Adams's  entire  term.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  Clay  had  exerted  a  decisive  influence  on 
the  election  of  Adams,  and  that  the  charge  had 
then  been  made  by  friends  of  Jackson  that  his 
support  was  the  result  of  a  corrupt  bargain  by 
which  he  was  to  be  made  Secretary  of  State. 
Clay's  prompt  and,  as  he  thought,  conclusive 
denial  of  this  charge  has  also  been  referred  to ; 
and  it  is  now^  on  all  hands  acknowledged  that 
the  only  attempt  at  bargain  had  been  made  by 
Jackson's  friends,  although  without  the  gen- 
eral's knowledge.  Still,  it  was  natural  that  the 
rank  and  file  of  Jackson's  following  should  re- 
gard Clay's  subsequent  appointment  as  conclu- 
sive proof  that  such  a  deal  had  been  made.  By 
accepting  it  he  made  himself  the  victim  of  cir- 
cumstantial evidence.  It  is  true  that  for  several 
days  he  hesitated  to  accept  the  place,  and  finally 
assumed  its  duties  with  reluctance.  What 
chiefly  determined  him  was  the  belief  that  if 
he  did  not  accept,  it  would  be  argued  that  he 
dared  not.  To  a  man  of  Clay's  make-up  the 
prospect  of  such  an  accusation  was  more  ob- 
noxious than  the  other  horn  of  the  dilemma. 
He,  therefore,  took  the  alternative  of  bold  de- 
fiance. But  in  so  doing  he  committed  another 
244 


The  Younger  Adams 

calamitous  political  error,  and  one  which,  as 
after-events  proved,  forever  barred  him  from 
the  Presidency. 

A  strong  effort  was  made  at  the  moment  to 
reject  Clay's  nomination,  fifteen  Senators  voting 
against  him.  This  attempt  failing,  the  cry  of 
*'  bargain  and  corruption"  was  raised  with  re- 
newed vigor,  and  without  delay  a  strong  party, 
which  had  Calhoun,  Benton,  Van  Buren,  Ran- 
dolph, and  JNIcDuffie  for  its  master-spirits,  was 
formed  in  Congress  to  oppose  the  Adams 
Administration  and  all  its  measures.  The  op- 
position opened  its  batteries  early  in  the  first 
session  of  the  Nineteenth  Congress  upon  the 
proposition,  warmly  advocated  by  Clay  and 
approved  by  Adams,  to  send  ministers  to  a 
congress  which  the  Spanish-American  repub- 
lics had  arranged  to  meet  at  Panama.  This 
congress,  if  ruled  by  wise  counsels,  promised 
to  bear  lasting  and  beneficent  fruit  and  to  give 
practical  effect  to  the  Monroe  doctrine,  but  it 
.was  politically  necessary  for  the  adversaries  of 
Adams  and  Clay  to  find  some  excuse  for  attack, 
and  this  was  the  first  that  offered.  Nomina- 
tion of  the  envoys  was  at  length  confirmed,  but 
only  after  a  delay  which  frustrated  the  whole 
245 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

])roject.  The  lengthy  debate  in  the  Senate  ren- 
dered it  impossiljle  for  the  delegates  from  the 
United  States  to  reach  the  isthmus  in  time  for 
the  congress.  When  they  arrived  it  had  ad- 
journed to  meet  at  a  later  time  in  Mexico;  but 
when  that  time  came  dissensions  among  the 
Southern  members  rendered  the  congress  im- 
practicable. 

Randolph  had  counted  Clay  as  an  enemy, 
and  when  the  discussion  in  the  Senate  of  the 
Panama  mission  opened  the  way  he  gave  full 
vent  to  his  unrivalled  pow'er  of  invective,  utter- 
ing in  one  of  his  outbursts  a  sentence  that  re- 
mains among  the  most  famous  ever  spoken  in 
Congress.  "  I  w^as,"  said  he,  "  defeated,  horse, 
foot,  and  dragoons, — cut  up  and  clean  broke 
down  by  a  coalition  of  Blifil  and  Black  George, 
— by  a  combination  unheard  of  till  then,  of  the 
Puritan  with  the  blackleg."  Further,  he  vir- 
tually charged  Clay  with  the  forgery  of  a 
despatch  which  purported  to  have  been  written 
and  addressed  to  him  by  a  foreign  minister, 
and  in  closing  he  berated  Clay's  parents  for 
bringing  into  the  w^orld  "  this  being  so  brilliant 
yet  so  corrupt,   which,   like  a  rotten  mackerel 

by  moonlight,  shines  and  stinks." 
246 


The  Younger   Adams 

This  flagrant  diatribe  was  soon  the  talk  of 
the  capital.  Randolph  refused  to  explain  his 
language,  and  Clay  forthwith  challenged  him 
to  a  duel.  The  meeting  took  place  on  the  banks 
of  the  Potomac,  April  8,  1826.  At  the  first 
exchange  of  shots  Clay's  ball  cut  Randolph's 
coat  near  the  hip  and  Randolph's  went  wild. 
Another  was  demanded  by  Clay.  Randolph  re- 
ceived the  fire  of  his  antagonist,  raised  his  pistol 
and  fired  in  the  air,  saying,  "  I  do  not  fire  at 
you,  Mr.  Clay."  Then,  in  an  affecting  scene, 
the  men  became  friends.  "  The  joy  of  all,"  says 
Benton,  who  was  present,  ''  was  extreme  at  this 
happy  termination  of  a  most  critical  affair.  It 
was  about  the  last  high-toned  duel  I  have  wit- 
nessed, and  among  the  highest-toned  I  have  ever 
witnessed."  It  was  Clay's  last  experience  as  a 
duellist. 

The  war  waged  against  Adams  became  more 
acrimonious  as  time  went  on,  the  opposition  to 
his  Administration  growing  constantly  in 
strength.  Nor,  much  as  he  desired  a  second 
term  at  the  hands  of  the  people,  would  he  do 
ought  to  obtain  it.  He  would  not  make  re- 
movals  from   office   save   for   breach   of   duty, 

and  he  even  refused  to  disturb  officials  who  had 
247 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

indecently  reviled  him.  This  lost  him  many  sup- 
porters. His  seeming  want  of  appreciation  for 
personal  service  lost  him  more.  Cold  and  acrid 
in  temperament,  he  granted  favors  migraciously, 
while  his  refusal  was  like  a  blow  in  the  face: 
no  one  receiving  it  forgot  or  forgave.  He  was, 
in  a  word,  the  most  complete  obverse  of  the 
popular  politician. 

There  being,  moreover,  no  important  policy 
or  principle  in  controversy,  the  sole  issue  of  the 
contest  of  1828  was  Adams  or  Jackson.  With 
the  personal  note  dominant,  the  campaign  was 
the  most  scandalous  in  American  politics.  To 
further  the  interest  of  their  candidate  the  Jack- 
son men  established  the  United  States  Telegraph 
in  Washington,  and  installed  as  its  editor  Gen- 
eral Duff  Green,  of  Missouri.  A  more  fit  and 
capable  man  for  the  services  required  could  not 
have  been  found.  Green  had  an  extensive 
knowledge  of  public  men  and  measures,  and 
he  wielded  a  vigorous  and  trenchant  pen. 
Everything  that  rancorous  partisan  invention 
could  concoct  found  a  place  in  the  columns 
of  the  Telegraph  and,  was  spread  broadcast  by 
other  Jackson  journals.  The  charge  of  "  bar- 
gain and  corruption"  was  printed,  placarded, 
24S 


The  Younger  Adams 

and  harped  upon  throughout  the  land,  and  with 
it  tra\elled  a  swarm  of  congenial  aspersions 
against  the  habits  and  character  of  the  President 
and  his  Secretary  of  State. 

Jackson,  although  he  won  a  signal  triumph, 
receiving  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  elec- 
toral votes  to  eighty-three  cast  for  Adams,  did 
not  escape  this  pestilence  of  slander.  The  Ad- 
ministration press,  in  Washington  and  else- 
where, teemed  with  charges  of  the  most  in- 
famous character  against  him.  Even  his  wife, 
a  plain  and  inoffensive  woman,  was  not  exempt 
from  attack,  and  soon  after  the  election  died 
of  grief.  Jackson  could  not  forgive  the  men 
who  had  hastened  her  death.  He  regarded 
Adams  as  one  of  these,  and  on  his  arrival 
in  Washington  to  take  office  declined  to  pay 
the  customary  visit  of  respect  to  the  Presi- 
dent. Stung  by  this  neglect,  Adams  resolved 
not  to  appear  at  the  inauguration  of  his  suc- 
cessor. When  Jackson  was  being  inaugurated, 
amid  shouts  of  the  assembled  thousands,  Adams 
was  taking  his  usual  solitary  ride  on  horseback, 
and  it  was  the  artillery  salute,  fired  when  the 
President  had  taken  the  oath  of  offfce,  that  told 

him  that  he  was  again  a  private  citizen. 
249 


CHAPTER    X 

THE    REIGN    OF    JACKSON 

WASHINGTON  had  never  lield  such 
throngs  as  flocked  there  to  witness  the 
inauguration  of  Andrew  Jackson  on  March  4, 
1829.  "  I  never  saw  such  a  crowd  before," 
Webster  wrote  from  the  capital  in  the  closing 
days  of  February.  "  Persons  have  come  five 
hundred  miles  to  see  General  Jackson,  and  they 
really  seem  to  think  that  the  country  is  rescued 
from  some  dreadful  danger."  They  surged 
through  the  streets  shouting  "  Hurrah  for 
Jackson,"  and  they  swarmed  about  Gadsby's, 
where  the  general  lodged,  in  such  masses  as 
to  completely  hem  it  in  and  make  access  to  his 
presence  nearly  impossible.  Ten  thousand 
people  gathered  on  inauguration  day  about 
the  east  portico  of  the  Capitol,  which  was  to 
be  used  for  the  first  time  for  these  ceremonies; 
a  ship's  cable  had  to  be  stretched  across  the 
long  flight  of  steps  to  keep  back  the  army  of 
eager  sight-seers,  and  it  was  only  with  diffi- 
culty that  the  procession  which  escorted  the 
250 


The  Reign  of  Jackson 

general — a  band  of  Revolutionary  veterans 
formed  the  body-guard — was  able  to  reach 
the  Capitol. 

The  President-elect  on  his  arrival  there  went 
first  to  the  Senate,  where  the  chief  justice  and 
other  dignitaries  joined  him  to  proceed  to  the 
out-door  platform.  When  he  appeared  on  the 
portico  the  shout  which  arose  seemed  to  shake 
the  very  ground.  The  ceremony  ended,  the  gen- 
eral mounted  his  horse  to  proceed  to  the  White 
House,  and  the  whole  crowd  followed  him,  its 
members  striving  who  should  first  gain  admit- 
tance into  the  Executive  Mansion.  An  abun- 
dance of  food  and  drink  had  been  provided, 
including  many  barrels  of  orange-punch ;  and 
as  the  waiters  opened  the  doors  to  bring  out 
the  punch,  the  crowd  rushed  upon  them,  up- 
setting the  pails  and  breaking  the  glasses. 

The  crush  inside  the  house  was  so  great  that 
distribution  of  refreshments  was  impossible,  and 
tubs  of  punch  were  set  out  in  the  grounds  to 
entice  people  from  the  rooms.  Jackson  himself 
.was  so  pressed  against  the  wall  of  the  reception- 
room  that  he  could  be  protected  from  injury 
only  by  a  number  of  his  friends,  who  linked 
arms  and  formed  a  living  barrier  about  him. 
251 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

Men  with  boots  heavy  with  nuul  stood  on  the 
chairs  and  sofas  in  their  eagerness  to  get  a 
view  of  the  hero.  Justice  Story  wrote  that  the 
crowd  contained  all  sorts  of  people,  from  the 
highest  and  most  polished  down  to  the  most 
vulgar  and  gross  in  the  nation.  "  I  never  saw 
such  a  mixture,"  he  added.  "  The  reign  of 
King  Mob  seemed  triumphant." 

Von  Hoist,  anxious,  perhaps,  to  coin  a  telling 
phrase,  characterizes  the  Presidency  thus  inau- 
gurated as  "  the  reign  of  Andrew  Jackson." 
Though  the  label  is  a  misleading  one,  some 
excuse  for  it  is  found  in  the  portraits  of  Jack- 
son. These  show  a  figure  tall,  spare,  erect,  and 
commanding,  with  features  worn  and  seamed, 
but  fixed  and  strong;  steady,  deep-set,  piercing 
eyes  shadowed  by  shaggy  brows,  and  lips  which, 
save  in  his  kindlier  moods,  had  always  a  firm 
and  defiant  expression,  a  shock  of  bristling  white 
hair  lending  an  appropriate  crown  to  a  bearing 
and  individuality  no  stranger  could  meet  with- 
out startling  recognition.  Yet  no  eminent 
American  has  been  more  persistently  and  wil-» 
fully  misunderstood  by  a  majority  of  his  coun- 
trymen. The  frontier  lawyer,  planter,  and  sol- 
dier, wdio  dwelt  during  the  greater  part  of  his 
252 


The   Reign   ot  Jackson 

life  in  comparative  obscurity,  was,  nevertheless, 
one  of  those  masterful  figures  who  appear  in 
high  places  only  once  or  twice  in  a  century. 

Endowed  with  a  strong  if  narrow  mind,  and 
signally  free  from  cant  and  pretension,  Jack- 
son understood  men  thoroughly,  and  in  practical 
sagacity  and  keenness  of  perception  was  un- 
surpassed among  his  contemporaries.  These 
qualities,  with  the  ability  to  seek  and  accept 
sound  advice,  were  the  prime  elements  of  his 
superiority, — a  superiority  which  becomes  more 
manifest  with  the  years.  He  was,  moreover, 
to  all  but  his  declared  enemies  sincerely  cordial 
and  winning,  warm  in  his  attachments,  con- 
siderate in  his  bearing  to  those  around  him, 
seldom  impatient  of  contradiction,  and  never 
forgetful  of  what  was  due  to  others.  No  better- 
mannered  man  has  ever  filled  the  Presidential 
chair. 

Clav  and  Webster,  their  advisers  and  adhe- 
rents,  however,  saw  in  Jackson's  elevation  to  the 
Presidency  an  absurd  and  outrageous  precedent. 
The}^  looked  upon  him  as  an  unlettered  soldier, 
wholly  unfitted  for  civic  duties,  and  his  election 
as  contrary  to  the  best  traditions  of  the  republic, 
and  pregnant  with  calamity.  They  were  also 
253 


Washington :  The  Federal  City- 
blind  to  the  newly  awakened  force  which  lay 
behind  Jackson's  rise  to  the  Presidency.  This 
was  the  progress  of  the  democratic  sentiment, 
— the  desire  of  the  masses  to  exert  their  power, 
which,  ever  since  Jefferson's  time,  had  been 
steadily  gaining  force  and  momentum,  and 
which  was  sure,  sooner  or  later,  to  gather  about 
some  personage  who  aroused  popular  admira- 
tion. Jackson  was  such  a  personage,  and  his 
mission  in  the  popular  mind  was  to  infuse  the 
democratic  spirit  into  the  administration  of  the 
government.  The  prevailing  idea  of  Jackson 
was  that  he  was  "  of  and  for  the  people,"  and 
such  was  its  potency  and  power  that  it  enabled 
him  during  eight  stormy  years  to  cope  with  and 
triumph  over  an  opposition  unparalleled  in  the 
history  of  the  republic. 

The  social  atmosphere  of  Washington  was 
quickly  and  radically  affected  by  the  levelling 
forces  which  found  expression  in  Jackson's  elec- 
tion ;  and  wine  and  high  play  forced  their  way, 
without  delay,  into  retreats  consecrated  to  so- 
briety, good  manners,  discreet  deportment,  and 
edifying  discourse.  Francis  Preston  Blair,  in 
a  letter  written  in  the  winter  of  1831,  describes 
a  typical  fashionable  gathering  of  the  period. 
254 


The    Reign   of  Jackson 

*'  The  hospitable  host,"  says  he,  "  commonly  in- 
Aates  the  whole  city,  and  those  who  can't  get 
in  go  away,  and  as  fast  as  the  company  gets 
sick  of  being  wedged  in  phalanx,  and  are  un- 
able to  extricate  themselves  and  retreat,  the 
house  is  thinned,  until  a  servant  is  enabled  to 
pass  through  the  rabble  with  a  waiter  of  trump- 
ery over  his  head.  This  is  refreshment  some- 
thing like  that  of  Tantalus.  It  is  the  tyranny 
of  Caligula,  who  set  his  laws  so  high  that  no- 
body could  read  them.  So  fashion  puts  its  good 
things  out  of  reach.  At  these  parties  they  some- 
times try  to  dance,  but  it  puts  me  in  mind  of  a 
Kentucky  fight,  when  the  crowd  draws  the  cir- 
cle so  close  that  the  combatants  have  no  room 
to  use  their  limbs.  They  have,  however,  four- 
and-twenty  fiddlers  all  in  a  row,  trying  by  the 
dint  of  loud  music  to  put  amateurs  in  motion. 
They  jump  up  and  down  in  a  hole  and  nobody 
sees  more  of  them  than  their  heads." 

At  this  time  everybody,  including  the  ser- 
vants, flocked  to  the  levees  and  Cabinet  recep- 
tions, and  the  story  is  told  of  a  cartman  who 
left  his  vehicle  in  the  street  and  entered  the 
White  Hou^e  in  frock  and  overalls  to  shake 
hands  with  the  President.  An  incident  of  this 
255 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

sort  might  have  easily  occurred,  for  Jackson  was 
as  democratic  in  his  tastes  and  habits  as  in  his 
principles.  Without  reverence  for  rank  or  es- 
tate, he  gauged  men  according  to  their  capacity, 
and  recognized  merit  in  the  humblest  station. 
No  President  has  made  himself  so  familiar  with 
the  condition  and  wants  of  the  people  of  Wash- 
ington, and  before  the  close  of  his  first  year 
in  office  he  knew  more  of  the  interior  affairs 
of  the  several  departments  and  the  men  employed 
therein  than  did  any  member  of  his  Cabinet. 
The  welfare  of  the  most  poorly  paid  clerks  he 
made  his  own,  and  while  he  took  care  that  they 
were  not  imposed  upon  by  their  superiors,  he 
compelled  them  to  fulfil  their  engagements  un- 
der all  circumstances  when  instances  of  miscon- 
duct were  brought  to  his  knowledge.  The  son 
of  an  old  friend  of  the  general  held  a  clerkship 
in  the  Land  Office.  He  fell  in  arrears  to  his 
landlady,  and  she  complained  to  the  President, 
who  sent  at  once  for  the  clerk.  "  How  is  this, 
Lund?"  said  he,  in  greeting.  "  INIrs.  Beale  says 
you  owe  her  for  board."  "  It  is  true,  general ; 
I  am  a  little  behind  with  her,"  was  the  reply. 
"  She  wants  the  money.     Wliy  don't  you  pay 

her?"    demanded  the  President.     ''I  intend  to 
256 


The  Reign  of  Jackson 

soon ;  but  my  family  has  been  sick,  and,  my  sal- 
ary being  small,  I  have  been  unable  to  meet  her 
bills  regularly.  I  will  pay  her  as  soon  as  I 
can."  "  But  the  woman  needs  it,  and  you  must 
pay  her  at  once."  "  I  should  be  glad  to,  but  I 
cannot."  "  You  shall,"  said  the  general,  "  and 
I'll  lend  you  the  money,"  handing  him  the 
amount. 

Andrew  Jackson  Donelson,  Jackson's  foster- 
son  and  namesake,  served  as  his  private  secre- 
tary during  the  general's  eight  years  in  the 
White  House,  and  played  an  important  part  in 
the  politics  of  the  period.  Parton  tells  how 
Jackson  jotted  down  on  the  margin  of  news- 
papers, or  upon  scraps  of  paper,  the  ideas  which 
were  to  control  his  messages,  and  these  he  car- 
ried in  his  hat.  Pulling  the  fragments  from 
this  capacious  magazine,  they  were  handed  to 
Donelson  for  amplification  into  good  and  or- 
derly English.  It  was  to  Donelson  that  Jackson 
left  the  gold-mounted  sword  which  had  been  a 
present  from  the  citizens  of  New  Orleans,  and 
it  was  all  that  the  old  hero  could  leave  him,  as 
he  says  in  his  will  his  debts  forbid  a  better  leg- 
acy, but  the  words  of  the  testament  bequeathing 

the  sword  ring  with   this  patriotic  sentiment : 
I.-J7  257 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

"  Use  it  when  necessary  in  support  and  protec- 
tion of  our  glorious  Union,  and  for  the  protec- 
tion of  the  constitutional  rights  of  our  beloved 
country,  should  the}-  be  assailed  by  foreign 
enemies  or  domestic  traitors." 

Genera]  Jackson's  wife,  as  before  stated,  died 
before  he  entered  the  White  House.  Mrs.  Don- 
elson,  wife  of  his  private  secretary,  presided  at 
the  Executive  ]\Iansion  during  his  two  terms. 
The  "  lovely  Emily,"  as  she  was  called,  brought 
youth  and  beauty  to  her  task,  and  discharged 
it  with  grace  and  intelligence.  The  President 
loved  her  with  the  love  of  a  father,  and  once 
only  did  she  oppose  his  wishes.  That  was  in 
what  was  known  as  "  the  Eaton  affair."  V.'hen 
the  President  asked  Mrs.  Donelson  to  call  upon 
Mrs.  Eaton,  and  thus  give  that  lady  public  recog- 
nition, the  favorite  niece  flatly  refused.  "  Then 
you  must  go  back  to  Tennessee,  my  dear,"  said 
the  general.  "  Very  well,  uncle,  I  will  go  back," 
was  the  decided  reply.  And  so  she  and  her 
husband  were  exiled  from  the  "White  House, 
only,  however,  to  be  soon  recalled  and  to  occupy 
their  old  positions  until  the  close  of  the  Jack- 
sonian  period.  Four  children  were  born  to  Mrs. 
Donelson  at  the  White  House.  One  of  the  four, 
258 


The   Reign   of  Jackson 

Mrs.  ]\Iary  Emily  Donelson  Wilcox,  still  resides 
in  Washington. 

"  The  Eaton  affair,"  to  which  reference  has 
just  been  made,  holds  a  curious  place  in  the  his- 
tory of  the  Jacksonian  epoch.  Jackson's  Cabi- 
net, as  at  first  constituted,  included  Martin  Van 
Buren  as  Secretary  of  State;  Samuel  D.  Ingf- 
ham,  of  Pennsylvania,  as  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury; John  Branch,  of  Xorth  Carolina,  as  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy;  John  M.  Berrien,  of 
Georgia,  as  Attorney-General,  and  \Mlliam  T. 
Barry,  of  Kentucky,  as  Postmaster-General. 
The  post  of  Secretary  of  War  was  given  to 
John  H.  Eaton,  a  life-long  friend  of  the  Presi- 
dent and  previously  for  ten  years  a  Senator  from 
Tennessee.  Eaton's  name,  while  he  was  thus 
employed,  had  been  often  unfavorably  coupled 
with  that  of  Margaret  Timberlake,  nee  Peggy 
O'Neil.  This  lady,  the  spoiled  daughter  of  an 
Irish  inn-keeper,  had  married  before  she  was 
seventeen  a  young  purser  in  the  navy.  The 
husband  died  by  suicide  at  Port  ]\Iahon,  in  1828, 
and  presently  the  widow  became  j\Irs.  Eaton. 
Under  these  circumstances  the  wives  of  the 
Vice-President  and  the  Cabinet  officers  refused 
her  social  recognition.  Jackson,  however, 
259 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

smarting  under  the  recollection  of  the  cruel 
manner  in  which  his  own  wife  had  been  as- 
sailed in  the  Presidential  canvass,  at  once  cham- 
pioned Mrs.  Eaton's  cause,  and  had  her  a  fre- 
quent and  honored  guest  at  the  White  House. 
Then  he  essayed  to  discipline  his  refractory 
Cabinet.  Van  Buren  and  Barry,  who  were 
widowers,  lent  themselves  to  the  President's 
wishes,  and  the  former,  joining  forces  with  the 
ministers  of  Great  Britain  and  Russia,  enter- 
tained the  "  princess  of  discord  at  suppers,  din- 
ners, and  balls.  Her  audacity  on  these  occasions 
was  as  brilliant  as  her  beauty  was  bewildering. 
Staid  matrons  of  the  Cabinet  and  Congres- 
sional set  called  untimely  for  their  carriages, 
clergymen  denounced  her  publicly,  and  Peggy, 
dancing  for  joy,  ran  daily  to  Jackson  with  fresh 
stories  of  delightful  insult."  ^leanwhile,  the 
three  married  men  of  the  Cabinet  refused  to 
speak  to  Eaton,  except  as  official  business  abso- 
lutely required,  and  in  the  presence  of  the 
President. 

The  end  of  this  tempest  in  a  teapot  was  not 
long  in  coming.  \^an  Buren  and  Eaton  ten- 
dered  their   resignations,   and   were   appointed, 

the    one    minister    to    England    and    the    other 
260 


The   Reign  of  Jackson 

governor  of  Florida,  while  those  members  of 
the  Cabinet  whose  sensitive  consorts  shrank 
from  calling  on  the  wife  of  the  Secretary  of 
War  were  bluntly  informed  that  an  entire 
reorganization  would  take  place,  and  that  their 
resignations  would  be  accepted.  They  were 
accordingly  tendered,  and  Ingham,  Branch, 
and  Berrien  retired  to  private  life,  the  first 
named  never  again  to  leave  it.  The  cause  of 
Ingham's  undoing,  however,  had  still  before 
her  a  long  and  singular  career.  Eaton,  after  a 
short  sojourn  in  Florida,  was  sent  as  minister 
to  Spain,  and  his  wife  enjoyed  at  Madrid  sev- 
eral of  the  happiest  3'ears  of  her  life.  Then 
they  returned  to  Washington,  where  after  a 
time  the  husband  died,  leaving  his  wife  a  com- 
fortable fortune.  The  twice-widowed  woman, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  married  a  man  of  less 
than  twenty-one,  an  Italian  music  teacher,  who 
soon  eloped  with  her  money  and  her  grand- 
daughter. She  survived  even  this  youth  after 
divorcing  him,  and  died,  in  1879,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-three.  Ever  amiable  and  vivacious, 
her  last  words  were,  "  I  am  not  afraid,  but 
this  is  such  a  beautiful  world." 

The  new  Cabinet  constructed  by  Jackson,  fol- 
261 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

lowing  the  retirement  of  Van  Buren  and  liis 
colleagues,  consisted  of  Edward  Livingston,  of 
Louisiana,  Secretary  of  State;  Louis  McLane, 
of  Delaware,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  Lewis 
Cass,  of  Michigan,  Secretary  of  War;  Levi 
Woodbury,  of  New  Hampshire,  Secretary  of 
the  Navy,  and  Roger  B.  Taney,  of  Maryland, 
Attorney-General;  while  in  1835  Amos  Ken- 
dall, of  Kentucky,  succeeded  Barry  as  Post- 
master-General. Each  of  these  gentlemen, 
with  one  or  two  exceptions,  was  superior  to 
his  predecessor,  and  the  Cabinet,  as  a  whole, 
was  a  very  able  one.  However,  in  Jackson's 
hands  this  body  had  already  been  shorn  of  much 
of  its  former  dignity.  Cabinet  officers  were  no 
longer  the  "  constitutional  advisers"  of  the  Pres- 
ident; few  Cabinet  councils  were  held,  and  the 
several  heads  of  departments  resembled  military 
staff-officers. 

Jackson's  actual  advisers  were  confined  to  a 
small  coterie  of  friends,  who,  with  one  exception, 
were  not  members  of  the  Cabinet.  These  ad- 
visers during  the  first  years  were  William  B. 
Lewis.  Amos  Kendall,  and  Isaac  Hill,  and  they 
constituted  the  so-called  "  kitchen  cabinet,"  a 
term  which  soon  became  as  familiar  to  the  peo- 
262 


The   Reign   of  Jackson 

pie  as  a  household  word.  Lewis,  long  the  friend 
and  neighbor  of  Jackson  and  now  second  audi- 
tor of  the  treasury,  was  an  adroit  and  far-seeing 
politician, — Sumner  calls  him  "  the  great  father 
of  wire-pullers," — wholly  devoted  to  the  cause 
of  his  chief.  Kendall  was  a  native  of  Massa- 
chusetts, who  had  been  a  tutor  in  the  family  of 
Henry  Clay  and  later  editor  of  the  Frankfort 
(Kentucky)  Argus.  He  early  became  a  warm 
supporter  of  Jackson,  who  in  1829  made  him 
fourth  auditor  of  the  treasury  and  subsecpently 
head  of  the  Post-Office  Department.  Secretive 
yet  audacious  in  his  political  methods,  he  was 
also  a  powerful  and  ready  writer,  and  many  of 
Jackson's  ablest  state  papers  were  attributed 
to  his  pen.  Hill,  who  had  been  for  many  years 
editor  of  the  Concord  Patriot,  and  who  from 
1830  until  1836  was  a  Senator  from  New  Hamp- 
shire, wielded  a  pen  as  forceful  as  Kendall's, 
and  was  Lewis's  equal  in  shrewdness  and  sa- 
gacity. 

A  fourth  member  of  Jackson's  "  kitchen 
cabinet"  as  at  first  constituted  was  Duff  Green, 
editor  of  the  United  States  Telegraph.  Green, 
however,  because  of  his  devotion  to  Calhoun, 
was  soon  replaced  by  Francis  P.  Blair,  who  had 
263 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

been  KendaH's  partner  in  the  publication  of  the 
Frankfort  Argus,  and  who  estabhshed  the  Globe, 
in  which  Jackson's  official  acts  were  stoutly  de- 
fended and  merciless  warfare  was:ed  asrainst 
those  who  opposed  them.  Blair,  though  a  clever 
writer  and  politician,  was  a  physical  Caliban. 
The  story  was  long  current  in  Washington  of 
how  a  wager  was  once  made  between  certain 
Georgians  and  Kentuckians  of  an  oyster-supper 
for  thirty,  to  be  paid  for  by  the  citizens  of  that 
State  which  could  produce  the  ugliest  man.  The 
evening  came,  the  company  assembled,  and 
Georgia  presented  a  fellow  who,  though  not 
naturally  ill-favored,  had  the  ability  to  wonder- 
fully distort  his  features.  The  Kentuckians 
were  in  despair,  for  their  man,  who  had  been 
in  training  for  a  week,  was  so  hopelessly  drunk 
that  he  could  not  stand.  But  at  the  last  moment 
a  happy  thought  occurred  to  one  of  them.  Or- 
dering a  hack,  he  drove  to  the  Globe  office,  and 
soon  returned  w^ith  Blair  as  an  invited  guest, 
saying,  as  they  entered  the  room,  "  Gentlemen, 
this  is  ]\Ir.  Blair,  the  editor  of  the  Globe,  and 
if  he  will  only  look  as  nature  made  him  Ken- 
tucky wins."  The  Georgians  at  once  declared 
their  willingness  to  pay  for  the  supper. 
264 


The   Reign   of  Jackson 

The  first  feature  that  marked  Jackson's  Ad- 
mniistration  was  the  sweeping  enforcement  of 
the  doctrine,  originally  enunciated  by  William 
L.  Marcy,  that  "  to  the  victors  belong  the  spoils." 
Those  who  had  supported  the  President  de- 
manded that  their  labors  should  be  rewarded, 
and  Jackson,  keenly  alive  to  the  persistent  and 
ferocious  abuse  with  which  he  had  been  assailed, 
was  in  no  way  reluctant  to  grant  their  demands. 
In  this,  as  in  all  he  did,  he  proceeded  with  vigor 
and  celerity.  During  the  first  years  of  his  Presi- 
dency he  made  as  many  removals  for  political 
reasons  as  had  been  effected,  mostly  for  cause, 
by  all  of  his  predecessors.  In  one  direction, 
however,  he  stayed  his  hand ;  he  would  not 
consent  to  have  officials  who  had  served  their 
country  in  the  field  removed  on  any  pretence. 

General  James  ]\Iiller,  one  of  the  heroes  of 
Lundy's  Lane,  was  collector  of  the  port  of 
Salem.  When  the  name  of  a  successor  to  Mil- 
ler was  sent  to  the  Senate,  Benton,  confident 
that  the  nomination  had  been  made  under  a 
misapprehension,  requested  that  it  might  be  laid 
on  the  table.  Then,  at  once  proceeding  to  the 
White  House,  he  laid  the  matter  before  the 
President.  "  Do  you  know,  sir,  who  is  collector 
265 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

of  the  port  of  Salem?"  was  Benton's  opening 
query.  "  I  don't  remember  his  name,  but  he 
is  a  good  Democrat  whom  I  appointed  on  the 
recommendation  of  our  Boston  friends,"  said 
Jackson.  "  But  do  you  know  who  is  to  be  re- 
moved to  make  room  for  him?"  queried  Ben- 
ton. "  Some  Hartford  Convention  FederaHst, 
I  suppose,"  was  the  reply.  "  General  Miller  has 
been  collector  of  the  port  of  Salem  for  many 
years  past,"  said  Benton.  "'  What !  not  the  hero 
who  fought  so  bravely  in  the  late  war?"'  ex- 
claimed the  President.  "Yes,  sir;  the  gallant 
soldier  who  said  '  I'll  try'  when  asked  if  he 
could  carry  the  enemy's  position."  Jackson  at 
once  flew  into  a  passion.  "  Confound  these  poli- 
ticians !"  said  he.  "  Is  nothing  sacred  from 
their  rapacity?  I'll  send  up  and  withdraw  the 
nomination  at  once.  Here,  Donelson,  write  to 
]\Hller  in  my  name.  No,  I  will  write  myself." 
The  letter  which  Jackson  wrote  recited  the  cir- 
cumstances under  which  a  man  had  been  named 
to  succeed  INIiller,  and  assured  the  general  that 
he  should  retain  the  office  as  long  as  he  lived. 
And  he  did. 

Jackson's  policy  of  wholesale  removals  from 
office  was  greeted  with  fierce  denunciations  and 
266 


The   Reign   of  Jackson 

direful  prophecy  on  tlie  part  of  the  opposition 
press,  and  in  Congress  it  was  made  the  subject 
of  protracted  and  excited  debate.  Among  those 
Avho  engaged  in  this  and  kindred  discussions 
in  the  House  were  a  full  score  of  new  mem- 
bers whose  names  are  still  well  remembered, 
including  Rufus  Choate,  of  Massachusetts; 
George  Evans,  of  Maine;  and  Thomas  Cor- 
win,  of  Ohio.  Choate,  though  still  a  young 
man,  had  already  done  much  to  win  a  place 
among  great  forensic  advocates  when  he  en- 
tered the  House,  and  in  that  body  he  was  at 
once  recognized  as  an  orator  of  the  first  rank. 
He  resigned  in  1834,  before  the  end  of  his 
second  term,  but  Evans,  who  had  preceded  him 
by  two  years,  served  in  the  House  until  1841. 
After  that  he  for  six  years  represented  his  State 
in  the  Senate,  and  in  both  bodies  he  exerted 
a  commanding  influence.  Evans,  whom  Web- 
ster, doubtless  with  a  mental  reservation  in  favor 
of  himself,  once  pronounced  the  ablest  lawyer 
in  New  England,  and  rare  skill  as  a  dialecti- 
cian, and  as  a  debater  was  seldom,  if  ever,  over- 
matched. Always  a  fluent  speaker,  when  excited 
he  piled  up  arguments,  accusations,  and  epithets 

with  overwhelming  force,  and  those  who  once 
267 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

felt  the  sting  of  his  tongue  seldom   invited   a 
second   encounter. 

A  very  different  man  was  Corwin,  who  served 
in  the  House  from  183 1  until  1840.  Perhaps  the 
first  genuine  humorist  to  find  a  seat  in  Con- 
gress, Corwin,  at  every  stage  of  his  career,  made 
a  business  of  searching  out  the  jocularities  of 
current  issues  and  using  them  to  lighten  the 
seriousness  of  statesmanship.  His  speeches 
surprised  and  delighted  Congress  and  the  coun- 
try, and  quickly  gave  him  a  national  reputation. 
Humor,  however,  was  not  his  only  gift.  He 
possessed  also  a  poetic  sense,  which  he  had  cul- 
tivated by  a  diligent  study  of  the  best  English 
poets;  and  he  knew  how  to  temper  that  sense 
so  that  it  would  appeal  to  the  throng.  Thus 
it  was  that  his  speeches,  based  on  solid  po- 
litical truth,  were  also  illustrated  by  wit,  by 
anecdote,  and  by  imagery  rich  yet  simple,  such 
as  the  layman  could  understand.  Corwin  was 
unexcelled  as  a  stump  orator  while  he  lived,  and 
his  superior  has  not  appeared  since  his  death. 
The  people  of  Ohio,  his  adopted  State,  were  at 
his  feet,  and  there  was  no  office  in  their  gift 
that  they  did  not  bestow  upon  him.  They  took 
him  from  the  House  to  make  him  governor, 
26S 


The  Reign   of  Jackson 

and  later  he  served  as  Senator,  Secretary  of  the 
Treasury,  and  minister  to  Alexico.  His  last 
years,  however,  were  shadowed  by  the  belief 
that  his  career  had  been  handicapped  by  his 
reputation  as  a  wit  and  humorist.  "  ]My  dear 
Garfield,"  said  he  to  the  future  President  just 
before  his  death,  ''  be  solemn,  solemn  as  an 
ass.  All  the  monuments  in  the  world  are  built 
to  solemn  asses." 

Richard  M.  Johnson  was  again  from  1829 
until  1837  a  member  of  the  House  from  Ken- 
tucky, and  another  district  of  that  State  was 
represented  during  Jackson's  two  terms  by 
Thomas  Chilton,  a  whilom  Baptist  preacher  of 
imposing  stature  and  lung-power.  Alabama  also 
supplied  a  physical  giant  in  Dixon  H.  Lewis, 
a  man  of  enormous  size  and  weight,  who  had 
furniture  made  for  his  special  use,  and  who, 
when  he  travelled,  was  always  compelled  to  en- 
gage two  seats  in  railway  and  other  public  con- 
veyances. Chilton  had  little  save  size  and  voice 
to  commend  him  to  notice,  but  Lewis  was  a  man 
of  sound  parts,  who  after  eleven  years  in  the 
House  won  a  seat  in  the  Senate,  where  he  sat 
until  his  death.  Cave  Johnson,  afterwards  Post- 
master-General under  Polk,  was  a  member  of 
269 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

the  House  from  Tennessee,  and  places  in  the 
Maryland  delegation  were  held  by  Francis 
Thomas,  subsequently  governor  of  his  State,  and 
by  Benjamin  C.  Howard,  best  remembered  in 
these  days  for  his  services  as  reporter  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  while  from  New  York  came 
Samuel  Beardsley  and  Ambrose  Spencer,  the 
one  a  vehement  supporter  of  Jackson  and  the 
other  a  devoted  follower  of  Clay.  Spencer  had 
been  chief  justice  of  his  State,  and  Beardsley, 
after  he  left  Congress,  held  the  same  office  for 
many  years. 

Mention,  however,  has  still  to  be  made  of  the 
most  notable  member  of  the  House  during  the 
Jacksonian  epoch.  This  was  the  venerable  John 
Ouincy  Adams,  who,  tiring  of  the  rural  quiet 
of  Ouincy,  returned  to  Washington  in  1831  as 
Representative  from  that  district.  Prompt  and 
regular  in  his  attendance  at  committee  meetings 
and  the  sessions  of  the  House,  the  ex-Presi- 
dent's intimate  and  profound  acquaintance  with 
the  political  history  of  the  country,  and  wonder- 
ful ability  for  resoh'ing  a  subject  into  its  original 
elements,  gave  him  great  power  in  debate,  and, 
coupled  with  unbounded  audacity  and  an  un- 
equalled gift  for  sarcasm  and  ridicule,  made 
270 


The  Reign   of  Jackson 

him  a  dreaded  adversary.  Adams's  place  was 
unquestioned  from  the  day  that  he  entered  the 
House,  and  he  remained  until  his  death  its  most 
conspicuous  and  striking  figure. 

Never  before  nor  since  has  the  Senate  held 
so  much  ability  and  oratorical  talent  as  dis- 
tinguished it  between  1829  and  1833.  Its  mem- 
bership, when  Jackson  took  office,  included  a 
score  of  men  whose  eloquence  and  sagacity  as- 
sured them  permanent  fame,  and  to  their  number 
was  added,  during  the  next  two  years,  learned 
and  masterful  William  L.  Marcy,  of  New 
York ;  rugged  and  resolute  Thomas  Ewing,  of 
Ohio ;  bland  and  scholarly  George  M.  Dallas, 
of  Pennsylvania;  urbane  and  eloquent  John  M. 
Clayton,  of  Delaware ;  truculent  and  aggressive 
George  M.  Troup,  of  Georgia,  who  had  per- 
formed previous  service  both  in  the  House  and 
Senate;  John  Forsyth,  of  the  same  State;  Felix 
Grundy,  of  Tennessee;  Willie  P.  Mangum,  of 
North  Carolina ;  George  Poindexter,  of  ]\Iis- 
sissippi ;  and  William  C.  Rives,  of  Virginia. 
To  give  added  strength  to  this  exceptional 
group,  Clay  returned  in  183 1  to  the  scene  of 
his  first  triumphs,  and  a  year  later  Calhoun  took 
the  seat  which  had  been  vacated  for  him  by 
271 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City- 
Robert  Y.  Hayne.     Not,  however,  until  Hayne 
had  borne  a  leading  part  in  what  was,  in  some 
respects,  the  greatest  debate  in  the  history  of 
the  Senate. 

Congress  in  1828  had  passed  a  tariff  act 
which  embodied  the  first  extreme  application 
of  the  protective  system  in  federal  legislation. 
That  act,  popularly  known  as  the  "  tariff  of 
abominations,"  was  approved  by  the  industrial 
North.  The  agricultural  South,  however,  anx- 
ious to  buy  in  the  cheapest  market,  bitterly 
opposed  it,  and  outlet  for  its  wTath  was  afforded 
when,  in  December,  1829,  Foote,  of  Connecti- 
cut, presented  to  the  Senate  a  resolution  calling 
for  an  inquiry  into  the  expediency  of  limiting 
the  sale  and  suspending  the  survey  of  the  public 
lands.  Debate  on  the  resolution  was  opened 
by  Benton,  who,  with  other  Western  Senators, 
saw  in  it  a  tendency  to  check  the  growth  of 
their  section,  and  it  continued  several  weeks 
with  increasing  bitterness. 

Belief  in  the  hostility  of  New  England 
towards  the  West  found  ardent  advocates  in 
many  Southern  Senators,  who  wished  to  unite 
the  South  and  West  in  opposition  to  the  tariff, 
and  on  January  19,  1830,  Hayne  made  a  bitter 
272 


The   Reign   of  Jackson 

attack  on  Massachusetts  and  her  sister  States, 
accusing  them  of  seeking  by  their  protective 
poHcy  to  enrich  themselves  at  the  expense  of 
the  rest  of  the  Union.  Webster  rephed  to  this 
speech  on  the  following  day,  answering  Hayne's 
accusations  with  great  power.  This  retort  pro- 
voked a  long  and  able  reply  from  Hayne,  who, 
with  eloquence,  sarcasm,  and  invective,  assailed 
Webster,  Massachusetts,  and  New  England,  and 
the  principles  for  which  they  stood.  Then 
changing  his  tone,  the  orator  entered  into  an 
exposition  of  the  doctrine  which,  framed  and 
fathered  by  Calhoun,  was  then  beginning  to 
fill  a  large  share  of  public  attention, — that  of 
nullification.  He  argued  with  boldness  and  in- 
genuity that  as  South  Carolina  had  originally, 
through  her  State  convention,  legally  called,  con- 
sented to  be  governed  by  the  act  of  Congress, 
she  could  now,  through  her  State  convention 
called  in  like  manner,  refuse  to  assent  to  any 
act  of  Congress  that  she  might  deem  uncon- 
stitutional or  inimical  to  her  interest,  thus  "  nul- 
lifying" them  and  rendering  them  inoperative 
so  far  as  she  was  concerned.  The  apotheosis 
of  States'-rights,  this  doctrine,  carried  to  its 
logical  conclusion,  turned  the  Constitution  into 

I. — 18  ^l  X 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

a  rope  of  sand,  and,  in  view  of  the  agitation 
against  the  tariff  of  1828  then  going  on  in  South 
Carohna,  called  for  instant  and  absolute  refuta- 
tion. Otherwise,  nothing  was  more  certain  than 
that  it  would  speedily  and  inevitably  destroy  the 
Union. 

Man  and  the  hour  met  in  Webster,  then  in 
the  third  year  of  his  senatorship  and  the  flush 
of  his  powers  as  an  orator.  Debate  on  Foote's 
resolution  had  now  lasted  so  long  that  people 
had  come  from  different  parts  of  the  country 
to  hear  it,  and  when  on  January  26  Webster 
arose  to  again  reply  to  Hayne, — the  latter  had 
finished  his  two  days'  speech  on  the  preceding 
afternoon, — the  crowd  not  only  filled  the  gal- 
leries and  invaded  the  floor  of  the  Senate  cham- 
ber, but  occupied  all  the  lobbies  and  entries 
within  hearing  and  even  beyond.  \\"ebster  had 
made  no  special  preparation  for  what  was  to 
prove  his  master-effort,  but  all  his  life  he  had 
been  making  ready  for  such  an  occasion,  and, 
from  his  opening  sentence  to  the  lofty  outburst 
of  eloquence  with  which  he  closed,  his  elocution, 
to  cjuote  the  words  of  a  listener,  "  was  the  steady 
flow  of  molten  gold." 

Webster  first  replied  to  Hayne's  aspersions 
274 


The  Reign   of  Jackson 

upon  himself  and  Xew  England,  his  noble  de- 
piction of  the  part  the  latter  had  played  in  his- 
tory moving"  many  of  his  listeners  to  tears ;  and 
then  he  attacked  with  weighty  argument  and 
keen-edged  sarcasm  the  doctrine  of  nullification. 
Nothing  could  be  more  masterly  than  his  demon- 
stration that  nullification  meant  revolution,  and 
the  soundness  of  his  argument  was  amply  illus- 
trated when,  a  generation  later,  the  crisis  came 
which  he  deprecated  with  so  much  intensity  of 
emotion  in  his  concluding  sentences.  A  new 
era  dated  from  the  delivery  of  this  speech. 
Giving  clear  expression  to  and  offering  full  jus- 
tification for  the  growing  sentiment  of  loyalty 
to  the  Union,  it  is  safe  to  say  that  no  other 
address  ever  made  in  Congress  has  found  so 
many  readers  or  so  profoundly  influenced  na- 
tional sentiment. 

One  of  those  who  read  and  were  influenced 
by  it  when  it  first  came  from  the  printer  was 
Jackson.  A  native  of  South  Carolina,  the  advo- 
cates of  nullification  had  counted  on  him  as 
an  ally,  but  Webster's  unanswerable  argu- 
ments, enforced  by  Van  Buren's  sage  advice, 
soon  convinced  him  that  the  doctrine  taught 
by  Calhoun  and  his  followers  could  but  prove 
275 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

destructive  to  the  Union.  With  Jackson  to 
think  was  to  act,  and  when  the  champions  of 
nullification,  in  order  to  strengthen  their  cause, 
organized  a  public  dinner  on  the  anniversary  of 
Jefferson's  birthday,  April  13,  1830,  the  Presi- 
dent attended  and  gave  as  a  toast,  "  The  federal 
Union, — it  must  and  shall  be  maintained." 
Thus  the  imperious  old  soldier  met  the  nullifiers 
face  to  face,  and  gave  them  to  understand  what 
they  might  expect  from  him.  "  With  nullifica- 
tion," said  he  to  a  friend,  "  the  Union  is  like 
a  bag  of  meal  open  at  both  ends.  Pick  it  up  in 
any  fashion  and  it  all  runs  out.  I  will  tie  the  bag 
and  save  the  country."  Less  than  two  years 
later  he  fulfilled  this  promise  in  a  manner  that 
proved  that  every  pulse  in  his  frame  beat  in 
sympathy  with  the  national  idea. 


276 


CHAPTER    XI 

BATTLES    BETWEEN    GIANTS 

THE  rising  tide  of  democracy  which  car- 
ried Jackson  into  the  Presidency  was  the 
signal  also  for  a  new  and  aggressive  arrange- 
ment of  political  forces.  The  President's  fol- 
lowers took  the  name  of  Democrats.  Those  who 
opposed  him  were  known  first  as  National  Re- 
publicans, and  after  1834  as  Whigs.  Clay,  who 
led  in  the  work  of  forming  the  opposition  party, 
designed,  as  its  head,  to  contest  the  field  with 
Jackson  in  1832,  and  in  pursuance  of  this  plan 
he  was,  in  December,  1831,  formally  nominated 
by  a  national  convention  held  in  Baltimore.  The 
same  month,  it  having  become  evident  that 
Congress  was  to  be  the  scene  of  a  fierce  and 
protracted  struggle,  Clay  returned  to  his  old 
seat  in  the  Senate,  and  from  that  time  forward 
commanded  in  person  the  fight  against  Jackson 
and  his  party. 

Jackson's  policy  had  by  this  time  become  dis- 
tinctly outlined.      The   President   was   opposed 
to  internal  improvements,  special  legislation  of 
277 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

every  sort,  and  a  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States,  which  was  to  expire 
in  1836.  He  was  also  known,  the  pubHc  debt 
being  nearly  paid,  to  favor  a  material  reduction 
of  the  tariff.  The  President's  attitude  on  these 
questions  gave  Clay  the  opportunity  he  most 
desired,  and  he  at  once  resolved  to  procure  the 
recharter  of  the  bank  and  to  perpetuate  pro- 
tection. Accordingly,  on  January  9,  1832,  he 
submitted  to  the  Senate  a  resolution  outlining 
his  plan  of  tariff  revision.  This  proposed  the 
abolition  of  all  duties  on  articles  not  competing 
with  domestic  productions,  save  duties  on  wines 
and  silks,  which  were  to  be  reduced,  and  the 
maintenance  of  existing  or  increased  duties  on 
other  articles.  The  Committee  on  Finance  was 
to  report  a  bill  on  that  basis.  The  same  day 
the  memorial  of  the  bank  for  the  renewal  of 
its  charter  was  presented,  this  preliminary  to 
the  introduction  of  a  bill  for  that  purpose. 

Discussion  of  these  subjects,  however,  was 
not  begun  until  the  Senate  carried  out  a  minor 
detail  of  the  Clay  programme, — the  rejection  of 
Van  Buren's  nomination  as  minister  to  Eng- 
land. Clay  was  aided  and  abetted  in  this  by 
Calhoun,  who,  when  Jackson  took  office,  had 
278 


Battles  between   Giants 

stood  foremost  among  the  supporters  of  the 
new  President.  In  fact,  when  Jackson  was 
elected  it  was  understood  that  he  should  serve 
a  single  term,  and  that  Calhoun,  who  in  1828 
had  been  again  chosen  Vice-President,  almost 
without  opposition,  should  become  his  succes- 
sor. This  plan,  however,  went  early  awry. 
Mrs.  Calhoun's  refusal  to  give  social  recog- 
nition to  Mrs.  Eaton  brought  her  husband 
into  disfavor  with  Jackson,  and  soon  a  cir- 
cumstance hitherto  concealed  came  to  light  to 
widen  the  breach.  William  H.  Crawford  had 
not  ceased  to  resent  his  defeat  in  1824,  for 
which,  with  or  without  due  reason,  he  held  Cal- 
houn chiefly  responsible.  From  the  comfort- 
able retirement  afforded  him  by  a  seat  on  the 
Georgia  bench  Crawford  wrote  to  one  of  Jack- 
son's friends,  declaring  that  in  IMonroe's  Cab- 
inet, of  which  he  and  Calhoun  had  been  mem- 
bers, the  latter  had  proposed  that  Jackson's 
conduct  in  the  Florida  War  be  made  the  sub- 
ject of  inciuiry,  and  that,  if  the  charges  against 
him  were  proved,  he  l)c  punished  with  severity. 
Crawford's  letter  brought  him  the  revenge  he 
was  seeking.  William  B.  Lewis  showed  it  to 
Jackson,  who  at  once  enclosed  a  copy  to  Cal- 
279 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

hoLin,  with'a  request  for  an  explanation.  There 
could  be  none,  however,  and  the  President's 
cooling  friendship  for  Calhoun  changed  on  the 
instant  to  implacable  enmity.  The  latter  was 
doomed  from  that  day  as  Jackson's  successor. 

Calhoun  charged  his  loss  of  favor  to  Van 
Buren,  who  profited  by,  if  he  had  not  fostered, 
the  quarrel  with  Jackson,  and  when  Clay,  in- 
tent upon  the  political  undoing  of  a  possible 
rival  for  the  Presidency,  undertook  to  defeat 
Van  Buren's  nomination  as  minister  to  Eng- 
land, joined  earnestly  and  eagerly  in  the  effort. 
Van  Buren  was  savagely  attacked,  a  dozen 
speeches  being  made  against  his  confirmation, 
and  the  nomination  finally  rejected,  by  Cal- 
houn's own  casting  vote,  with  a  result,  per- 
haps, unforeseen  except  by  one  astute  Senator, 
who,  when  Clay  and  Calhoun  openly  rejoiced 
over  their  work,  said  to  them,  "  True,  you  have 
broken  a  minister,  but  you  have  elected  a  Vice- 
President." 

This  shrewd  prophecy  had  quick  confirma- 
tion. Van  Buren,  returning  from  England, 
where  he  had  been  received  with  marked  atten- 
tion, was  warmly  welcomed  at  the  White  House 

as  a  victim  to  the  opposition  to  the  President, 
280 


Battles  between   Giants 

and  it  soon  became  known  that  Jackson,  now 
firmly  resolved  upon  a  second  term,  had  de- 
termined to  make  Van  Buren  his  successor  in 
the  Presidency.  Formal  proof  of  this  was 
furnished  when  a  Democratic  national  conven- 
tion held  at  Baltimore  in  May,  1832,  nominated 
Jackson  for  President  and  Van  Buren  for  Vice- 
President.  Thenceforward  Van  Buren  stood 
beside  his  chief,  the  latter's  most  trusted  and, 
as  results  clearly  proved,  most  sagacious  ad- 
viser. 

Clay,  meanwhile,  had  carried  through  the 
programme  with  which  he  had  entered  the 
Senate, — not,  however,  without  resolute  op- 
position from  the  supporters  of  the  President, 
and  at  the  price  of  concessions  which  soon  bore 
bitter  and  calamitous  fruit.  Two  days  after 
the  introduction  of  his  tariff  resolution  he  ad- 
dressed the  Senate  in  its  support.  It  was  six 
years  since  he  had  been  heard  in  Congress  by 
the  public, — Van  Buren's  nomination  had  been 
debated  behind  closed  doors, — and  this  fact, 
coupled  with  his  reputation  as  an  orator,  and 
popular  desire  to  see  and  hear  a  man  who  filled 
so  large  a  place  in  the  public  eye,  served  to 
throng  both  floor  and  galleries.  Nor  did  Clay 
281 


Washington  :  The  Federal  City- 
disappoint  liis  hearers.  His  speech,  achnirable 
in  spirit  and  manner,  opposed  a  rapid  reduction 
of  the  pubhc  debt,  urged  the  maintenance  of  the 
pohcy  of  protection,  and  closed  with  a  solemn 
declaration  that  he  acted  "  in  a  spirit  of  warm 
attachment  to  all  parts  of  our  beloved  country, 
with  a  lively  solicitude  to  preserve  and  restore 
its  harmony,  and  with  a  firm  determination  to 
pour  oil  and  balm  into  existing  wounds  rather 
than  to  further  lacerate  them." 

Clay's  hopes  were  ill-founded.  The  South, 
already  embittered  by  the  tariff  of  1828,  saw  in 
his  plan  of  revision  not  oil  and  balm  for  exist- 
ing wounds,  but  the  threat  of  more  irksome 
burdens,  and  its  representatives  at  once  resolved 
upon  resistance.  Hayne,  of  South  Carolina, 
again  came  forward  as  the  champion  of  his 
section,  and  submitted  an  amendment  to  Clay's 
resolution  proposing  an  immediate  reduction  of 
the  import  revenue  to  an  amount  sufficient  to 
defray  the  expenses  of  the  government  after 
paying  the  public  debt,  and  the  gradual  adop- 
tion of  a  general  average  of  duties.  He  sup- 
ported his  proposition  in  a  speech  of  great 
ability,  in  which  he  cogently  presented  the 
views  of  the  South;  examined  the  character 
282 


Battles   between   Giants 

of  the  protective  system,  denouncing  it  as  un- 
constitutional, unjust,  and  oppressive,  and 
closed  with  a  spirited  defence  of  free  trade. 
The  profound  impression  produced  by  Hayne 
impelled  Clay  to  reply  in  a  speech  which  oc- 
cupied two  days  in  its  delivery  and  holds  a 
permanent  place  in  the  literature  of  protection. 
The  debate  thus  opened  was  continued  for  many 
weeks  in  both  branches  of  Congress,  almost 
every  prominent  Senator  and  Representative 
sharing  in  it.  Clay's  resolution  was  adopted 
in  the  end,  and  a  bill  modelled  on  the  plan  it 
proposed  became  a  law;  but,  as  presently  will 
appear,  it  was  to  prove  a  two-edged  sword. 

The  Whig  leader,  however,  was  not  seriously 
disturbed  by  the  opposition  to  his  tariff  bill,  for 
it  was  upon  his  party's  advocacy  of  the  recharter 
of  the  Bank  of  the  United  States  that  he  mamly 
relied  to  assure  Jackson's  andoing  and  his  own 
election  to  the  Presidency.  Small  space  can 
here  be  given  to  a  controversy  the  adequate 
story  of  which  would  fill  volumes.  No  one 
now  disputes  the  fact  that  the  bank,  under  the 
presidency  of  Nicholas  Biddle,  concentrated  in 
itself  an  enormous  power.  It  is  also  known, 
this  by  confession  of  its  directors,  that  it  spent 
283 


Washington  :    The  Federal   City 

in  four  years  many  thousand  dollars  in  what 
they  called  "  self-defence"  against  *'  politicians." 
Those  who  opposed  it  denounced  it  "  as  an  in- 
stitution too  great  and  powerful  to  be  tolerated 
in  a  government  of  free  and  equal  laws;"  be- 
cause "  its  tendencies  were  dangerous  and  per- 
nicious to  the  government  and  the  people,"  and 
because  of  "  the  exclusive  privileges  and  anti- 
republican  monopoly  it  gave  to  the  stock- 
holders." 

Jackson,  whose  prejudice  against  a  national 
bank  was  of  long  standing,  announced  in  his 
first  message  to  Congress  his  hostility  to  the 
renewal  of  the  charter,  wdiich,  it  will  be  re- 
membered, had  several  years  to  run.  He  re- 
turned to  the  attack  in  his  two  following 
messages.  The  directors  of  the  bank  and  their 
friends,  alarmed  at  his  attitude,  resolved  upon 
immediate  action.  Backed  by  the  Whig  leaders, 
they  presented  to  Congress  the  memorial  already 
referred  to,  and  subsequently  a  bill  was  re- 
ported to  renew  the  charter  of  the  bank  for  a 
term  of  fifteen  years  from  its  expiration.  The 
bill  was  debated  for  many  weeks  and  aroused 
intense  feeling.  The  bank's  chief  champions 
were  Clay  and  Webster.  The  Democrats,  led 
284 


Battles  between   Giants 

by  Benton,  resolutely  opposed  the  bill,  but  were 
unable  to  prevent  its  passage,  and  on  July  4, 
1832,  it  was  sent  to  the  President. 

Six  days  later  Jackson  returned  it  to  Con- 
gress with  a  veto  message  which  revealed  all 
the  arts  of  the  consummate  politician.  The 
President  favored  a  bank,  but  not  this  bank. 
The  monopoly  bestowed  by  the  original  charter 
operated,  he  argued,  as  a  gratuity  of  many  mil- 
lions by  greatly  increasing  the  value  of  the 
stock.  The  renewal  would  still  further  im- 
prove the  stock  to  fifty  per  centum  above  its 
par  value,  rendering  the  market  value  of  the 
monopoly  seventeen  million  dollars.  "  It  ap- 
pears," ran  the  message,  "  that  more  than  one- 
fourth  of  the  stock  is  held  by  foreigners  and 
the  residue  by  a  few  hundreds  of  our  citizens, 
chiefly  of  the  richest  class.  For  their  benefit 
does  this  act  exclude  the  whole  American  peo- 
ple from  competition  in  the  purchase  of  this 
monopoly,  and  dispose  of  it  for  many  millions 
less  than  it  is  worth.  ...  If  our  government 
must  sell  monopolies,  it  would  seem  to  be  its 
duty  to  take  nothing  less  than  their  full  value; 
and  if  gratuities  must  be  made  once  in  fifteen 
or  twenty  years,  let  them  not  be  bestowed  on 
285 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

the  subjects  of  a  foreign  government  nor  upon 
a  designated  and  favored  class  of  men  in  our 
own  country." 

An  attempt  to  pass  the  bill  over  Jackson's 
veto  failed  of  the  requisite  two-thirds  majority, 
and  on  July  i6  Congress  adjourned.  The 
Presidential  campaign  was  begun.  In  this 
contest  the  slanders  of  1828  were  renewed 
and  re-enforced.  Both  parties  resorted  to  per- 
sonal vilification;  and  the  epithets  and  impu- 
tations with  which  Jackson  was  assailed  were 
not  less  scurrilous  and  unfounded  than  those 
heaped  upon  Clay.  Indeed,  Jackson  seems  to 
have  got  the  worst  of  it  in  this  respect,  for 
the  great  majority  of  the  newspapers  were 
Whigs  and  their  columns  were  continually 
filled  with  all  that  partisan  ingenuity  could 
invent.  One  popular  Whig  picture  represented 
the  President  receiving  a  crown  from  Van 
Buren  and  a  sceptre  from  the  devil.  Another 
showed  him  raving  at  a  delegation.  Still  an- 
other presented  Clay  and  Jackson  in  the  guise 
of  jockies  riding  a  race  towards  the  White 
House,  Clay  a  length  ahead. 

Events  failed  to  confirm  this  forecast.     Clay's 
tariff  policy  was  hateful  to  the  South,  and  his 
2S6 


Battles  between   Giants 

bank  policy  lost  him  supporters  all  over  the 
country.  Jackson's  triumph  was,  therefore, 
overwhelming.  Clay  receiving  but  forty-nine 
out  of  two  hundred  and  eighty-six  electoral 
votes.  Nor  did  Clay's  humiliation  end  here, 
for  V^an  Buren  was  elected  to  the  Vice-Presi- 
dency by  nearly  the  same  vote  received  by 
Jackson.  The  rejection  of  his  nomination  for 
minister  to  England  had  produced  an  effect  pre- 
cisely opposite  to  that  intended.  Clay,  always 
a  hopeful  man,  did  not  lose  heart  in  the  face 
of  the  utter  defeat  he  had  sustained,  and  a  few 
weeks  later  returned  to  his  seat  in  the  Senate, 
ready  to  continue  his  leadership  of  the  WHiigs. 
Jackson,  on  the  other  hand,  interpreted  his 
overwhelming  victory  as  a  popular  endorse- 
ment of  all  his  actions  as  President.  The  en- 
thusiastic applause  from  all  quarters  which 
greeted  his  next  important  official  act  served 
to  still  further  strengthen  his  belief  in  himself 
as  a  '*  saviour  of  society"  and  "  champion  of 
the  people."  Reference  has  already  been  made 
to  the  doctrine  of  nullification  formulated  by 
Calhoun  and  his  followers.  So  rapidly  had  it 
matured  to  action  that  in  November,  1832,  a 
State  convention  in  South  Carolina  passed  an 
287 


Washington  :  The  Federal  City- 
ordinance  nullifying  the  tariff  laws  of  1828  and 
1832,  and  prohibiting  the  payment  of  any  dues 
under  them  in  the  State  after  February  i,  1833. 
Jackson  at  once  took  up  the  gauntlet  of  defiance 
thus  thrown  down.  He  sent  General  Scott  to 
take  command  at  Charleston,  with  troops  near 
by  and  gunboats  at  hand,  and  a  few  days  later 
issued  a  masterly  proclamation,  written  by  Liv- 
ingston, which  pronounced  the  act  of  South 
Carolina  contradictory  to  the  Constitution,  and 
unauthorized  by  and  destructive  of  its  aims. 
The  governor  of  South  Carolina  answered  this 
with  a  counter-proclamation. 

The  people  of  the  North  hailed  the  Presi- 
dent's stand  with  patriotic  fervor,  while  sev- 
eral of  the  Southern  States  formally  declared 
ag-ainst  the  doctrine  of  nullification.  South 
Carolina,  however,  gave  no  sign  of  receding 
from  its  position.  Calhoun,  meantime,  resigned 
the  Vice-Presidency  and  took  the  seat  in  the 
Senate  made  vacant  by  the  resignation  of 
Hayne,  who  had  become  governor  of  South 
Carolina.  Thus  the  State's  strongest  men  were 
at  the  front.  But  the  hangman's  noose  might 
have  been  their  lot  had  not  Clay  stepped  into 
the  breach.  Seeing  what  was  sure  to  come 
28S 


Battles  between   Giants 

about,  and  without  consulting  either  side,  on 
February  12,-  1833,  he  introduced,  in  behalf  of 
union  and  peace,  a  compromise  bill  providing 
for  a  gradual  reduction  of  the  tariff  until  1842, 
when  it  should  be  reduced  to  a  horizontal  rate 
of  twenty  per  cent.  When  Clay's  friends  pro- 
tested that  by  introducing  this  bill  he  was 
throwing  away  his  chance  to  be  President,  he 
made  answer,  "  I  would  rather  be  right  than 
be  President,"  adding,  "  If  there  be  any  who 
want  civil  war,  I  am  not  one  of  them.  As  I 
stand  before  my  God,  I  have  looked  beyond 
parties  and  regarded  only  the  vast  interests  of 
this  united  people."  Clay's  bill  was  accepted  by 
the  nullifiers,  and  became  a  law,  known  as  the 
Compromise  of  1833.  Without  delay  the 
South  Carolina  convention  rescinded  the  nul- 
lification ordinance.  Thus  the  struggle  of  sec- 
tions was  put  off  for  a  generation.  When  at 
last  the  conflict  came,  the  Union  had  grown 
clear  around  the  slave  section,  and  the  North 
had  become  strong  enough  to  preserve  it  against 
the  concerted  withdrawal  of  the  South.  How 
acute  was  the  crisis  averted  by  Clay  is  revealed 
in   one   of   Jackson's   last   recorded   utterances. 

A  friend  asked  him  what  he  would  have  done 
I-— 19  289 


Washington :    The  Federal   City 

with  Calhoun  and  his  associates  had  they  per- 
sisted in  their  defiance  of  the  government. 
"  Hanged  them,  sir,  as  high  as  Haman,"  said 
the  dying  man,  with  eyes  aflame.  "  They  should 
have  been  a  terror  to  traitors  for  all  time." 

The  nullification  incident  ended,  the  Presi- 
dent returned  with  renewed  vigor  to  his  war 
upon  the  Bank  of  the  United  States.  He  now 
resolved  that  the  government  deposits  should 
be  removed  from  the  bank.  The  act  of  1816, 
creating  that  institution,  provided  that  the  pub- 
lic funds  might  be  removed  by  order  of  the 
Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  who  must,  however, 
inform  Congress  of  his  reason  for  the  removal; 
and  as  Congress  had  previously  resolved,  by 
heavy  majorities,  that  the  deposits  were  safe 
in  the  bank.  Secretary  McLane  declared  his  un- 
willingness to  issue  such  an  order.  But  the 
President  was  not  to  be  thwarted  in  his  pur- 
pose. In  May,  1833,  McLane  was  transferred 
to  the  State  Department,  Livingston  being 
made  minister  to  France,  and  was  succeeded 
in  the  Treasury  by  William  J.  Duane,  of  Penn- 
sylvania. The  new  Secretary,  however,  refused 
to  make  the  desired  order,  and,  declining  to 
resign,  was  summarily  dismissed  from  office, 
290 


Battles  between   Giants 

Roger  B.  Taney,  the  Attorney-General,  being 
appointed  in  his  place.  This  time  no  mistake 
was  made.  Taney  at  once  ordered  that  after 
October  i  the  pul^lic  resources  should  no  longer 
be  deposited  in  the  national  bank,  but  with 
sundry  State  banks. 

Such  was  the  situation  when  Congress  opened 
in  December.  The  rage  of  the  Whig  leaders 
was  unbounded,  and  found  definite  expression 
in  a  resolution  of  censure  introduced  into  the 
Senate  by  Clay,  which  was  adopted  after  an 
acrimonious  debate  which  lasted  from  Decem- 
ber until  April.  It  contained  a  declaration  that 
the  President  had  assumed  "  authority  and 
power  not  conferred  by  the  Constitution  but 
in  derogation  of  both."  Jackson  protested  in 
a  message  against  the  resolution,  but  the  Senate 
refused  to  receive  his  protest.  Before  that  it 
had  rejected  many  of  the  President's  appoint- 
ments, including  that  of  Taney  as  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury,  Levi  Woodbury  being  after- 
wards appointed  to  and  confirmed  in  that  office. 
Many  of  the  President's  friends,  on  the  other 
hand,  declaimed  against  the  Senate  as  an  aris- 
tocratic institution,  wdiich  ought  to  be  abol- 
ished. During  this  exciting  period  Benton 
291 


Washington :    The   P'ederal   City 

remained  Jackson's  most  powerful  and  stead- 
fast ally  in  the  Senate,  opposed  at  every  turn 
not  only  by  Clay  and  Webster,  but  also  by 
Calhoun,  who  had  formed  a  temjDorary  yet 
especially  earnest  and  active  alliance  with  the 
Whig  leaders. 

In  the  adoption  of  the  vote  of  censure  just 
referred  to  the  opposition  to  Jackson  reached 
high  tide.  Thereafter  the  Administration 
forces  in  Congress  received  rapid  and  steady 
acquisitions,  and  the  opening  of  the  Twenty- 
fourth  Congress'  found  the  supporters  of  the 
President  in  a  majority  both  in  the  House  and 
in  the  Senate.  The  change  thus  effected  brought 
to  Washington  a  number  of  new  men  of  mark, 
along  with  others  who  had  performed  pre\'ious 
service  in  Congress.  Among  those  wdio  took 
seats  in  the  Senate  during  Jackson's  second 
term  were  John  Davis,  of  Massachusetts;  John 
M.  Niles,  of  Connecticut;  Benjamin  Swdft,  of 
Vermont ;  Samuel  L.  Southard,  of  New  Jersey ; 
Silas  Wright,  of  New  York,  and  James  Bu- 
chanan, of  Pennsylvania,  both  advanced  from 
seats  in  the  House ;  John  Norvell  and  Nathaniel 
P.  Tallmadge,  of  the  newly  admitted  State  of 
Michigan ;  Thomas  Morris,  of  Ohio ;  John  M. 
292 


Battles  between   Giants 

Robinson,  of  Illinois ;  Lewis  F.  Linn,  of  Mis- 
souri; Richard  Henry  Bayard,  of  Delaware; 
Watkins  Leigh,  of  Virginia;  John  P.  King,  of 
Georgia;    and  Alexander  Porter,  of  Louisiana. 

Other  new  Senators  were  John  J.  Crittenden, 
of  Kentucky;  William  Campbell  Preston,  of 
South  Carolina ;  and  Robert  J.  Walker,  of  Mis- 
sissippi. Crittenden,  who  had  previously  sat  in 
the  Senate,  was  one  of  the  most  effective  de- 
baters of  his  time.  Although  he  rarely  made  a 
set  speech,  and  never  opened  the  debate,  unless 
it  was  upon  a  bill  reported  from  a  committee  of 
which  he  was  chairman,  he  was  always  happy 
in  retort  or  reply,  and  often  triumphed  in  a 
war  of  words,  even  when  engaged  with  a  su- 
perior antagonist.  Ready,  dexterous,  and  fer- 
tile in  resources,  he  delighted  in  arguments  that 
were  mixed  up  with  mild  and  courteous  per- 
sonalities, and  in  contests  of  this  kind  seldom 
met  his  equal,  nor  was  he  ever  known  to  forego 
an  opportunity  for  a  tilt  with  an  antagonist  of 
ability  and  character. 

Preston,  the  grandnephew  of  Patrick  Henry 
and  the  grandson  of  the  hero  of  King's  Moun- 
tain, whose  name  he  bore,  had  studied  law  under 
William  Wirt  and  at  the  University  of  Edin- 
293 


Washington  :    The   Federal   City 

burgh.  He  was  thirty-eight  years  of  age  when 
as  a  Calhoun  Democrat  he  entered  the  Senate, 
where  he  quickly  confirmed  the  forensic  reputa- 
tion that  had  preceded  him.  Not  a  few  claim 
him  as  the  most  finished  orator  the  South  has 
ever  produced,  and  there  survive  glowing  tra- 
ditions of  his  power  to  arouse  his  audiences  to 
enthusiasm,  and  the  next  moment  move  them 
to  tears.  Yet  he  never  spoke  in  Congress  or  to 
a  popular  assemblage  without  the  most  ample 
and  careful  preparation,  and  was  wont  to  de- 
clare that  he  knew  of  no  such  thing  as  genius 
or  natural  inspiration. 

Walker  holds  a  unique  place  in  political  his- 
tory. Born  and  reared  in  Pennsylvania,  he 
early  removed  to  Mississippi,  which,  while  he 
was  still  several  years  under  forty,  honored  him 
with  a  seat  in  the  Senate,  where  he  served  until 
called  to  a  place  in  Polk's  Cabinet.  Endowed 
with  an  unequalled  memory,  rare  enthusiasm, 
and  intense  convictions,  he  early  took  a  foremost 
place  in  the  Senate,  bringing  to  the  discussion 
of  every  question  all  his  peculiar  powers.  Al- 
though he  excelled  on  the  hustings,  it  was  with 
his  pen  that  he  most  effectively  shaped  the 
thought  of  his  fellows,  and  it  has  aptly  been 
294 


Battles  between   Giants 

said  of  him  that  as  "  a  poHtical  essayist  he  was 
what  Charles  James  Fox  was  as  a  padiamentary 
orator."  No  other  American,  unless  it  be  Ham- 
ilton or  Jefferson,  has  exercised  a  greater  influ- 
ence upon  the  minds  of  statesmen. 

Andrew  Stevenson,  who  had  held  the  Speak- 
ership for  several  years,  resigned  that  post,  in 
1834,  to  become  minister  to  England.  He  was 
succeeded  by  John  Bell,  who  at  the  end  of  a 
single  term  gave  way  to  James  K.  Polk.  Among 
those  who  completed  their  first  term  while  Bell 
held  the  gavel  were  three  future  Speakers,  Linn 
Boyd  and  John  White,  of  Kentucky,  and  John 
W.  Davis,  of  Indiana,  and  two  future  Presi- 
dents, Millard  Fillmore,  of  New  York,  and 
Franklin  Pierce,  of  New  Hampshire.  Fillmore 
served  in  the  House  for  ten  years,  but  Pierce 
left  it  at  the  close  of  his  second  term  to  enter 
the  Senate.  Horace  Binney,  the  eminent  Phil- 
adelphia advocate,  was,  perhaps,  the  most 
striking  figure  in  the  House  during  the 
Twenty-third  Congress,  which  also  included 
Joseph  Trumbull,  of  Connecticut,  a  grandson 
of  the  Revolutionary  patriot ;  \\''illiam  Slade, 
of  Vermont,  later  governor  of  his  State; 
Aaron  Vanderpoel,  of  New  York,  whose  power 
295 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

of  lung  and  readiness  in  debate  won  for  him 
the  sobriquet  of  the  "  Kinderhook  roarer;" 
James  A.  Pearce,  a  clear-headed,  hard-working 
legislator,  who  from  1843  until  his  death  was  a 
member  of  the  Senate;  Samuel  F.  Vinton,  the 
rival  of  Corwin  on  the  Ohio  stump;  George 
W.  Jones,  of  Michigan,  then  at  the  threshold 
of  a  checkered  career,  and  destined  to  outlive 
three  generations  of  public  men ;  George  C. 
Dromgoole,  twelve  years  a  member  from  Vir- 
ginia; Joseph  R.  Underwood,  of  Kentucky,  a 
veteran  of  181 2,  who  afterwards  sat  in  the 
Senate ;  Bailie  Peyton,  of  Tennessee ;  and 
Francis  W.  Pickens  and  Henry  L.  Pinckney, 
of  South  Carolina. 

Henry  A.  Wise,  of  Virginia,  becaire  a  mem- 
ber of  the  House  in  1833,  and  two  years  later 
Caleb  Gushing  entered  that  body  from  Massa- 
chusetts. During  his  six  years  of  service  "  Wise 
of  Accomac,"  as  he  was  called,  made  himself 
as  dreaded  a  factor  in  debate  as  John  Ran- 
dolph had  been  in  another  and  earlier  era.  A 
native  of  the  Eastern  Shore,  lank  and  thin, 
with  deep-set,  piercing  eyes,  low,  broad  fore- 
head, light  hair  worn  long  behind  the  ears,  a 
large  mouth,  with  thin  lips  and  broad  chin, 
296 


Battles   between   Giants 

and  garbed  habitually  in  old-fashioned  attire, 
Wise's  qualities  as  a  debater  were  unique,  origi- 
nal, and,  as  a  rule,  resistless.  Fluent  of  speech, 
his  stand-point  was  always  his  own,  his  opin- 
ions independent,  and  his  utterance  of  them 
fierce  and  fearless,  though  often  enlivened  by 
a  native  humor  and  a  keen  wit.  Jackson  and  Van 
Buren,  while  Wise  remained  in  Congress,  had 
no  more  virulent  and  able  opponent  in  that 
body. 

The  talents  of  Gushing,  who  later  on  was  to 
form  a  brief  working  alliance  with  Wise  in 
support  of  the  Tyler  Administration,  were  of 
a  very  different  and,  perhaps,  higher  order. 
When  he  entered  the  House  in  1835,  Gushing, 
now  best  remembered  as  one  of  the  ablest  of 
American  diplomats,  and  as  an  international  and 
constitutional  lawyer  who  in  his  day  had  few 
equals  in  the  United  States,  was  still  a  very 
young  man,  but  he  had  already  won  high  rank  at 
the  bar,  and  had  travelled  extensively  in  Europe, 
where  he  had  stored  his  mind  with  rare  acqui- 
sitions of  knowledge.  He  remained  eight  years 
in  the  House,  taking  his  place  from  the  first 
among  its  leaders.     An  unceasing  student,  what 

others  knew  imperfectly  he  knew  fully,  and  so 
297 


Washington :    The   Federal    City 

well  disciplined  was  his  mind  that  he  could  at 
once  arrange  his  thoughts  and  bring  them  to 
bear  on  any  given  point.  He  had,  moreover,  a 
power  of  clear  statement,  and  this,  with  a 
striking  presence,  a  good  voice,  and  a  distinct 
enunciation,  made  him  a  telling  and  effective 
speaker,  and,  when  he  desired  to  be,  a  most 
fascinating  talker. 

Strongly  intrenched  in  every  avenue  to  power, 
the  Democratic  party,  in  the  closing  days  of 
Jackson's  second  term,  exhibited  a  state  of  or- 
ganization and  discipline  hitherto  unknown  in 
American  politics.  The  President's  personal 
prestige  was  now  at  meridian,  and  its  potency 
to  work  the  rebuke  and  humiliation  of  the 
Whigs  was  shown  in  striking  manner  during 
the  second  session  of  the  Twenty-fourth  Con- 
gress. Immediately  after  the  adoption  of  the 
Senate  resolution  censuring  Jackson  for  the 
removal  of  the  public  funds  from  the  Bank  of 
the  United  States  Benton  gave  formal  notice 
of  his  intention  to  move  an  expunging  resolu- 
tion, pledging  himself  to  prosecute  this  purpose 
until  he  succeeded  or  his  political  career  came 
to  an  end.  And  in  this,  as  in  all  other  matters, 
he  was  as  good  as  his  word. 
298 


Battles  between    Giants 

For  upward  of  two  years  Benton's  resolu- 
tion continued  to  be  the  subject  of  acrimonious 
debate  in  the  Senate.  The  contest  was  carried 
into  the  State  elections,  and  several  Whig-  Sen- 
ators resigned  in  consecjuence  of  instructions  re- 
ceived from  their  Legislatures.  In  this  way  the 
number  of  Democratic  Senators  steadily  in- 
creased; and  so,  in  January,  1837,  a  few  weeks 
before  Jackson's  retirement  from  office,  Ben- 
ton's persistency  had  its  reward,  and  the  resolu- 
tion of  censure  was  expunged.  The  closing  de- 
bate continued  until  far  into  the  night  of  the 
seventh  day,  and  called  forth  all  the  powers  of 
the  Whig  and  Democratic  leaders.  After  the 
final  vote,  Benton  moved  that  the  order  of  the 
Senate  be  carried  into  effect. 

Then  the  secretary,  opening  the  manuscript 
journal  of  1834,  drew  broad  black  lines  around 
the  obnoxious  resolution,  and  wrote  across  its 
face,  "  Expunged  by  order  of  the  Senate  this 
1 6th  day  of  January,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord 
1837."  The  jubilation  of  Jackson's  followers 
was  unbounded.  Benton's  lasted  for  life.  Long 
after  the  event,  when  he  wrote  his  "  Thirty 
Years'  View,"  his  elation  was  unabated.  "  The 
gratification  of  General  Jackson,"  he  says,  "  was 
299 


Washington :    The   Federal   City 

extreme.  He  gave  a  grand  dinner  to  the  ex- 
pungers  (as  they  were  called)  and  their  wives; 
and  being  too  weak  to  sit  at  the  table,  he  only 
met  the  company,  placed  the  '  head  expunger' 
in  his  chair,  and  withdrew  to  his  sick-chamber. 
That  expurgation !  It  was  the  crowning  mercy 
of  his  civil,  as  New  Orleans  had  been  of  his 
military,  life." 

So  ended  Jackson's  long  fight  against  the 
Bank  of  the  United  States.  Its  close  marked 
the  renewal  of  another  and  mightier  contest 
which  was  to  hold  the  attention  of  Congress 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  end  at  last  in 
the  shock  of  arms.  Sixteen  years  had  passed 
since  the  adoption  of  the  Missouri  Compromise. 
During  that  time  the  abolition  movement  had 
gathered  force  and  volume  until  there  existed 
in  the  North  more  than  a  thousand  antislavery 
societies.  The  only  way,  however,  in  which 
these  organizations  could  get  their  case  before 
Congress  was  by  presenting  petitions  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery  in  the  District  of  Columbia. 
Unwilling  to  receive  such  petitions,  or  to  allow 
any  discussion  of  the  question.  Congress,  in 
1836,  enacted  a  rule  providing  that  all  petitions, 
resolutions,  or  papers  relating  in  any  way  or  to 
300 


Battles  between   Giants 

any  intent  whatsoever  with  slavery  should,  with- 
out being  either  printed  or  referred,  be  laid  upon 
the  table,  and  that  no  further  action  whatever 
be  had  upon  them. 

John  Ouincy  Adams  refused  to  vote  on  the 
adoption  of  this  rule,  but  when  his  name  was 
called  arose  in  his  seat  and  denounced  it  as  a 
direct  violation  of  the  Constitution,  the  rules 
of  the  House,  and  the  rights  of  his  constitu- 
er;ts.  This  dramatic  protest  opened  a  parlia- 
mentary battle  which  went  on  for  eight  years. 
At  every  stage  of  this  long  fight  for  the  right 
of  petition,  to  which  he  felt  that  a  deadly  blow 
had  been  dealt,  Adams  contended  single-handed 
against  all  the  champions  -of  slavery.  Fear  was 
unknown  to  him,  nor  could  denunciation,  abuse, 
and  threats  change  his  course.  Always  mas- 
ter of  himself,  even  at  the  white-heat  of  anger, 
he  was  terrible  in  invective  and  matchless  at 
repartee,  while  his  powers  of  keen  analysis,  mas- 
tery of  parliamentary  usage,  and  rare  gift  of 
divining  the  enemy's  probable  mode  of  attack 
gave  him  an  immense  advantage,  and  at  last 
crowned  him  \ictor. 

Session  after  session  Adams  returned  to  the 

assault  until   finally,   in  December,    1844,   from 
301 


Washington  :    The   Federal    City 

his  seat  in  the  House,  he  saw  the  cowardly  "  gag- 
rule"  defeated  by  a  vote  of  one  hundred  and 
eight  to  eighty,  and  the  right  of  petition  tri- 
umphantly vindicated.  At  an  age  when  most 
men  rest  from  their  labors  he  had  enacted  the 
most  luminous  and  daring  chapter  in  his  career. 


302 


CHAPTER    XII 

A   DAY   OF   FIRST   THINGS 

THE  period  of  Jackson's  Presidency,  one  of 
the  most  remarkable  in  history,  was  no- 
where more  remarkable  than  in  the  United 
States,  for  it  was  coincident  with  the  introduc- 
tion and  development  of  railroads,  steam  navi- 
gation on  the  ocean,  agricultural  machinery, 
anthracite  coal,  friction-matches,  and  the  mod- 
ern newspaper;  and  with  an  increased  immi- 
gration from  Europe,  the  rise  of  the  abolition- 
ists, and  the  flowering  of  American  literature, 
when  to  the  names  of  Irving,  Cooper,  and 
Br3^ant  were  added  those  of  Longfellow,  Haw- 
thorne, Holmes,  and  Whittier. 

The  capital  city  felt  in  many  ways  the  effect 
of  the  new  order.  One  of  these  was  the  con- 
struction of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio  Railroad, 
with  a  branch  leading  to  Washington.  The  cars 
at  the  outset  were  drawn  by  horses,  and  for  a 
time  a  car  was  propelled  by  sails,  making,  with  a 
fair  wind,  some  fifteen  miles  an  hour ;  but,  in 
the  end,  a  locomotive  was  constructed  and 
303 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

driven  by  Peter  Cooper, — a  combination  of 
belts  and  cogs,  with  a  Ijlower  kept  in  motion 
by  a  cord  attached  to  one  of  the  wheels.  Eng- 
lish builders  had  asserted  that  no  engine  could 
be  constructed  to  turn  a  curve  of  less  than  nine 
hundred  feet,  yet  Cooper's  engine  ran  around 
the  curves  of  the  Baltimore  and  Ohio,  some  of 
which  were  only  two  hundred  feet.  The 
coming  of  the  iron  horse  was  hailed  with  ex- 
cited joy  by  the  residents  of  the  capital,  and 
prompted  an  operetta  entitled  "  The  Railroad," 
written  by  George  Washington  Parke  Custis,  a 
grandson  of  Mrs.  Washington,  and  adopted  son 
of  the  first  President.  One  of  the  songs  in  the 
operetta  began, — 

Of  each  wonderful  plan 

E'er  invented  by  man, 
That  which  nearest  perfection  approaches 

Is  a  road  made  of  iron, 

Which  horses  ne'er  tire  on, 
And  travelled  by  steam,  in  steam  coaches. 

This  song  was  occasionally  sung  at  festive 
boards  by  its  author,  and  the  elder  Joseph  Jef- 
ferson repeated  it  before  delighted  crowds 
whenever  the  company  of  players  of  which  he 
was  a  member  performed  in  Washington.  It 
304 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

was  during  one  of  these  visits  that  the  younger 
Joseph  Jefferson,  then  a  child  of  six  years,  made 
his  first  appearance  upon  any  stage,  enacting  a 
youthful  and  piping  Jim  Crow  as  a  foil  to  the 
maturer  performance  of  Thomas  D.  Rice.  Al- 
though it  was  not  until  long  after  Jackson's 
time  that  the  play  became  a  regular  amusement 
in  Washington,  the  elder  Booth  came  now  and 
then  from  his  Maryland  farm  to  charm  capital 
audiences  with  his  impassioned  renderings  of 
Shakesperian  roles.  Jackson  was  not  a  lover 
of  the  theatre,  but  he  rarely  missed  a  perform- 
ance by  Booth;  and  in  the  winter  of  1833  he 
went,  as  did  nearly  every  one  else  in  Washing- 
ton, to  witness  the  widely  heralded  appearance 
of  Fanny  Kemble.  The  niece  of  the  great  Sid- 
dons  was  then  in  the  flush  of  young  woman- 
hood, lithe  and  graceful,  with  black  hair  and 
brilliant  eyes,  set  forth  by  expressive  features. 
Washington  saw  her  as  Juliet,  to  her  father's 
Romeo,  as  Portia  and  Constance,  as  Julia  in 
"  The  Hunchback."  and  as  Juliana  in  "  The 
Honeymoon."  She  failed  to  conquer  as  an  ac- 
tress despite  her  careful  training,  but  soon 
found  an  American  husband  in  Pierce  Butler, 

a  wealthy  South  Carolina  lawyer  and  planter. 
1,-20  305 


Washington :    The  Capital    City 

A  familiar  and  not  always  welcome  figure  in 
the  public  places  and  gatherings  of  the  capital 
during  the  third  and  fourth  decades  of  the  cen- 
tury was  Mrs.  Anne  Royall,  the  widow  of  a 
Revolutionary  officer,  who,  visiting  Washing- 
ton in  search  of  a  pension  when  the  younger 
Adams  was  President,  soon  decided  to  make 
it  her  permanent  abiding-place.  She  accord- 
ingly set  up  a  small  press  on  Capitol  Hill,  and 
for  several  years  published  a  weekly  paper,  first 
called  Paul  Pry  and  afterwards  The  Hamilton. 
Visitors  to  the  city  were  promptly  called  upon 
by  Mrs.  Royall;  if  they  subscribed  to  her  jour- 
nal she  gave  them  flattering  mention  in  the  next 
issue,  but  if  they  refused  they  were  abused  in  a 
merciless  manner.  Mrs.  Royall  had  been  a 
comely  woman  in  her  youth,  but  her  good  looks 
disappeared  as  age  crept  upon  her,  while  her  tem- 
per took  an  even  keener  edge.  John  Ouincy 
Adams  was  one  of  those  who  often  felt  the  sting 
of  her  tongue,  and  he  described  her  as  going 
about  "  like  a  virago-errant  in  enchanted  armor, 
redeeming  herself  from  the  cramps  of  indigence 
by  the  notoriety  of  her  eccentricities  and  the 
forced  currency  they  gave  to  her  publications." 

Jackson,  on  the  other  hand,  looked  with  a  lenient 
306 


A   Day   of  First  Things 

eye  upon  her  shortcomings,  and  gave  her  a 
kindly  welcome  whenever  she  visited  him.  "Old 
Mrs.  Royall,"  writes  Francis  P.  Blair,  "  called 
in  the  other  day  with  one  of  her  books  to  pre- 
sent to  him.  When  she  opened  the  budget  he 
saw  a  partridge  in  the  feathers,  which  she  had 
bought  for  her  dinner.  He  invited  her  in,  and 
the  poor  old  woman  made  a  heav}^  meal  with 
him.  I  came  in  just  as  the  old  lady  escaped 
with  her  partridge ;  and  ...  he  told  me  the 
story,  saying  that  he  had  made  it  a  rule  all  his 
life  that  nobody  should  ever  go  out  of  his  house 
hungry."  A  glimpse  of  Old  Hickory  one  would 
not  willingly  lose ! 

Dame  Royall,  who  died  in  1854,  at  an  ad- 
vanced age,  represents  one  phase  of  capital  jour- 
nalism in  Jackson's  time;  the  name  of  Nathaniel 
P.  Willis  stands  for  another.  The  Leigh  Hunt 
of  the  drawing-rooms,  as  Dr.  Palmer  calls  him, 
became  associated  with  the  New  York  Mirror  in 
1 83 1,  and  for  several  years  thereafter  spent 
much  of  his  time  in  Washington,  sending  weekly 
letters  to  his  journal,  in  which  the  doings  and 
small-talk  of  capital  society  were  handled  with 
grace  and  charm.  \A'illis,  who  was  then  a  slen- 
der young  man  of  thirty,  full  of  poetry  and 
307 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

cheerfulness,  knew  how  to  endow  even  trifles 
with  interest,  and  his  Washington  letters,  in 
their  way,  have  never  been  surpassed. 

Willis,  however,  in  introducing  social  gossip 
and  personal  description  and  anecdote  into  his 
letters,  only  followed  an  example  set  by  the 
elder  James  Gordon  Bennett,  who  from  1827  to 
1832  was  Washington  correspondent  of  the  New 
York  Courier.  Bennett  founded  the  New  York 
Herald  in  1835,  and  a  little  later  Theodore  N. 
Parmelee,  whose  "  Recollections  of  an  Old 
Stager"  are  most  delightful  reading,  became  the 
Washington  representative  of  the  new  journal, 
serving  as  such  through  several  Administrations. 
James  Brooks,  long  the  dean  of  capital  corre- 
spondents, began  his  letters  to  the  Portland  Ad- 
vertiser in  1832,  and  four  years  later  his  younger 
brother  Erastus  settled  in  Washington  as  the 
correspondent  of  the  New  York  Advertiser. 
When  James  Brooks  established  the  New  York 
Express,  Erastus  became  his  partner,  and  acted 
as  Washington  correspondent  of  the  Express 
during  sixteen  successive  sessions  of  Congress. 

Nathan  Sargent,  a  native  of  Vermont,  who 
had  been  a  lawyer  and  judge  in  Alabama  and 
an  unsuccessful  Whig  editor  in  Pennsylvania, 
30S 


A   Day   of  First  Things 

became  a  Washington  correspondent  in  1836, 
writing  first  for  the  United  States  Gazette  and 
afterwards  for  the  Philadelphia  Press.  Sar- 
gent's trenchant  letters,  to  which  he  signed  the 
pen-name  of  Oliver  Oldschool,  often  provoked 
anger  and  dismay  at  the  Capitol,  and  on  one 
occasion  Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  of  Pennsyl- 
vania, moved  his  expulsion  from  the  desk  that 
had  been  assigned  him  "  in  order  that  the  honor 
and  dignity  of  the  House  might  be  maintained ;" 
but  John  Ouincy  Adams  arose  and  remarked  that 
the  correspondent  "  was  as  respectable  as  the 
honorable  member  from  Pennsylvania  himself," 
and  the  motion  was  not  pressed.  Sargent,  a 
devoted  friend  and  follower  of  Clay,  whose  life 
he  wrote,  served  at  different  times  as  sergeant- 
at-arms  of  the  House,  register  of  the  treasury, 
and  commissioner  of  customs.  His  ''  Public 
Men  and  Events,"  written  towards  the  close  of 
his  life,  remains  a  mine  of  information  for  the 
student  of  our  political  history. 

Contemporary  with  the  brothers  Brooks  and 
with    Sargent   were   Sylvester    S.    Southworth, 
Edward  L.    Stevens,   James   M.    Rae,   Edward 
Hart,  James  E.  Harvey,  later  minister  to  Por- 
tugal; Thomas  M.  Brewer,  of  the  Boston  Atlas, 
309 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

who  subsequently  attained  eminence  as  a  natu- 
ralist; Edmund  Burke,  of  the  Nezv  Hampshire 
Argus,  three  times  a  member  of  the  House  from 
his  State;  Jesse  E.  Dow,  who  had  been  a  sailor 
and  wrote  prose  and  verse  with  equal  facility; 
and  Francis  J.  Grund,  of  the  Baltimore  Sitn 
and  Philadelphia  Ledger.  All  of  these  men 
were  writers  of  pith  and  vigor,  but  Grund  de- 
mands especial  mention  as  the  most  versatile 
and  gifted  member  of  the  group.  A  man  of 
enormous  energy  and  unfailing  resources,  he 
was  the  ready  master  of  a  caustic  pen  and  the 
terror  of  a  majority  of  the  public  men  of  his 
period. 

The  Anak  of  Washington  journalism  during 
Jackson's  time,  and  for  many  years  thereafter, 
was  John  C.  Rives,  who,  in  1832,  assumed  the 
business  management  of  the  newly  established 
Globe.  When  in  1849  Francis  P.  Blair  retired 
from  the  editorship  he  became  its  sole  propri- 
etor, and  so  continued  until  his  death.  Rives 
stood  six  feet  four  in  his  stockings  and  weighed 
two  hundred  and  forty  pounds.  He  was  one 
of  the  shrewdest  of  men,  but  had  besides  the 
saving  gift  of  humor  and  a  warm  and  kindly 
heart,  which  made  him  the  steadfast  friend  of 
310 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

merit  in  misfortune.  It  was  his  frequent  boast 
that  when,  having  acquired  wealth,  he  sought  a 
wife,  he  chose  one  from  the  threescore  young 
women  employed  in  the  bindery  of  his  office; 
and  he  was  always  sure  to  add  that  he  could 
not  have  made  a  better  choice.  Generous  in 
the  extreme,  Rives,  during  the  Civil  War,  gave 
more  than  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  the  wives 
of  soldiers  who  had  enlisted  in  the  Union  army 
from  the  District  of  Columbia. 

Peter  Force,  mayor  of  Washington  during 
the  closing  years  of  Jackson's  Administration, 
was,  like  Rives,  a  graduate  of  the  printer's  case. 
In  1830  the  National  Journal,  in  which  Force 
had  vigorously  supported  the  Administration  of 
John  Quincy  Adams,  ceased  to  exist.  Many 
years  before  that  date,  being  fond  of  historical 
research,  he  had  begun  to  collect  manuscripts, 
books,  and  pamphlets  bearing  on  American  his- 
tory and  antiquities;  and  in  1833  he  was  au- 
thorized by  Congress  to  compile  and  publish  a 
documentary  history  of  the  colonial  period  un- 
der the  title  of  "  American  Archives."  Force 
labored  for  twenty  years  at  his  giant's  task  with 
unceasing  energy  and  enthusiasm,  but,  in  1853, 
by  which  time  he  had  issued  a  large  number  of 
311 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

folio  volumes,  the  publication,  owing  to  a  mis- 
understanding about  the  law  authorizing  it,  was 
discontinued  by  Secretary  Marcy.  Force, 
though  cruelly  disappointed,  continued  to  in- 
crease his  collection  of  material,  even  mortgaging 
his  real  estate  to  do  so.  A  few  months  before 
his  death,  in  1867,  it  was  bought  by  the  govern- 
ment and  placed  in  the  Library  of  Congress. 
It  contains  sixty-two  thousand  books  and  pam- 
phlets, many  of  them  rare,  and  is  considered  by 
some  the  most  valuable  collection  of  its  kind  in 
existence. 

One  of  those  who  took  a  lively  and  sympa- 
thetic interest  in  Force's  enterprise  during  its 
earlier  stages  was  Chief  Justice  Marshall.  The 
death  of  the  latter,  in  July,  1835,  at  the  age  of 
eighty,  removed  a  venerated  and  masterful  fig- 
ure from  Washington  life,  and  at  the  same  time 
gave  Jackson  opportunity  to  deal  his  political 
adversaries  another  humiliating  blow.  The  re- 
fusal of  the  Senate,  at  the  dictation  of  the 
Whig  leaders,  to  confirm  the  nomination  of 
Roger  B.  Taney  for  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
bred  in  his  chief  a  fierce  resolve  to  place  him 
on  the  Supreme  Court  bench,  and  when  Justice 
Duval  resigned,  in  January,   1835,  Taney  was 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

nominated  to  fill  the  vacancy.  The  Senate  re- 
fused to  act  upon  this  nomination,  but  when  it 
reconvened  in  December  a  majority  of  its  mem- 
bers were  Democratic,  and  the  President,  Mar- 
shall's place  being  vacant,  was  now  able  to 
compass  his  darling  project  more  impressively 
than  he  had  before  conceived.  Taney  was,  there- 
fore, nominated,  and  promptly  confirmed,  chief 
justice. 

Jackson,  during  his  two  terms,  made  six  other 
appointments  to  the  Supreme  Court  bench.  John 
McLean,  who  had  been  Postmaster-General  un- 
der Adams,  was  named  in  1829  to  succeed  Jus- 
tice \\'^ashington.  Jackson's  second  appointee 
was  Plenry  Baldwin,  a  man  of  marked  intel- 
lectual power,  who  had  long  been  the  leader  of 
the  bar  in  Western  Pennsylvania.  The  vacancy 
caused  by  Justice  Johnson's  death  in  1834  was 
filled  by  the  appointment  of  James  M.  Wayne, 
who  had  been  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Court 
of  Georgia.  The  appointment  of  Taney  as  chief 
justice  was  coincident  with  that  of  Philip  P. 
Barbour,  of  Virginia,  to  succeed  Justice  Duval. 
The  number  of  justices  was  increased  to  nine 
in  the  following  year,  and  there  were  chosen 
as  the  new  members  of  the  court  John  Catron, 
313 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

of  Tennessee,  and  John  McKinley,  a  native  of 
Virginia,  who  had  been  at  different  periods  a 
member  of  the  Senate  and  House  from  Alabama. 
Justice  McKinley,  however,  was  nominated  by 
Van  Buren,  William  Smith,  who  had  been 
named  by  Jackson,  having  declined  to  serve. 

A  piquant  story  attaches  to  the  appointment 
of  Justice  Catron.  He  had  been  for  many  years 
a  member  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Tennessee, 
and  being  a  man  of  simple  tastes  and  moderate 
ambitions,  was  wholly  satisfied  with  his  lot. 
Not  so  his  wife,  who,  when  she  read  in  the 
newspapers  that  two  justices  were  to  be  added 
to  the  federal  Supreme  Court,  resolved  to  set 
out  for  Washington  and  ask  the  appointment  of 
her  husband,  a  man,  she  assumed,  as  well  quali- 
fied for  the  place  as  any  in  America.  Catron, 
though  much  protesting,  was  compelled  to  keep 
lier  company.  Their  journey  to  the  capital 
ended  one  morning  before  sunrise.  The  wife, 
despite  the  untimely  hour,  insisted  on  driving 
straight  to  the  White  House,  where,  leaving 
the  judge  in  the  carriage,  she  asked  for  an 
audience  with  the  President.  Jackson,  himself 
an  early  riser,  gave  her  the  cordial  welcome  of 
an  old  friend,  and,  the  compliments  of  the  hour 
314 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

ended,  inquired  in  what  manner  he  could  serve 
her. 

"  I  have  come  all  the  way  from  Tennessee," 
she  said,  "  to  ask  you  to  appoint  my  husband 
to  one  of  the  new  justiceships  of  the  Supreme 
Court." 

"  Where  is  the  judge?"  asked  the  President, 
who  cherished  grateful  recollections  of  the  stout 
support  Catron  had  given  him  in  many  a  hard- 
fought  political  battle. 

"  He  is  outside  in  our  carriage.  He  did  not 
want  to  come,  but  I  made  him,"  answered  Mrs. 
Catron. 

"  Then,  by  the  Eternal.  I  will  appoint  him," 
was  the  laughing  reply.  And  so  on  March  3, 
1837,  the  day  before  his  second  term  expired, 
Jackson  made  Catron  an  associate  justice,  which 
position  the  latter  filled  with  wisdom  and  honor 
until  his  death  in  the  last  days  of  the  Civil 
War. 

Marshall's  passing  was  separated  from  that 
of  John  Randolph,  of  Roanoke,  by  the  space  of 
two  years.  Randolph,  in  1830,  following  his 
brief  term  of  service  in  the  Senate,  accepted 
the  Russian  mission,  but  soon  returned  to  Amer- 
ica, with  the  hand  of  death  upon  him.  He  ar- 
315 


Washington :  The  Capital  City- 
rived  in  Washington  in  the  spring  of  1833  on 
his  way  to  Philadelphia  for  medical  aid,  and 
hearing  that  Clay  was  about  to  address  the 
Senate,  he  had  himself  taken  to  the  Capitol  and 
laid  upon  a  sofa  in  the  rear  of  the  Senate 
chamber.  "  Lift  me  up,"  said  he.  when  Clay 
arose  to  speak.  "  I  must  hear  that  voice  once 
more."  He  was  lifted  up.  Clay,  as  soon  as 
he  had  finished,  made  his  w^ay  to  Randolph's 
side,  and  held  out  his  hand.  "  I  am  dying," 
said  Randolph,  *'  and  I  came  here  expressly 
to  have  this  interview  with  you."  Then,  with 
moistened  eyes,  the  two  men.  who  had  often 
met  in  keen  encounter  upon  the  floors  of  Con- 
gress and  once  in  conflict  upon  the  field,  cor- 
dially clasped  hands,  voiced  a  few  broken  words, 
and  parted  forever  in  peace  and  good-will.  A 
few  weeks  later  Randolph  ceased  to  live. 

Washington  by  his  death  lost  as  unusual  a 
figure  as  has  ever  given  piquancy  and  color  to 
its  social  and  political  life;  but  it  again  made 
acquaintance  with  an  equally  picturesque  and 
far  more  robust  personality  when,  in  1832, 
General  Sam  Houston  visited  the  capital  in  the 
interest  of  the  Cherokee  Indians,  among  whom 
he  had,  for  several  years,  made  his  home.  Hous- 
316 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

ton,  at  an  earlier  period,  had  been  for  two  terms 
a  member  of  the  House,  and  after  that  governor 
of  Tennessee,  but  he  now  wore  the  garb  of  his 
Indian  associates,  and  had,  so  the  gossip  ran, 
adopted  many  of  their  habits.  He  had  not 
been  long  in  \A'ashington  when,  deeming  himself 
outraged  by  reflections  on  his  conduct  made  in 
the  course  of  debate  by  William  Stansberry,  a 
member  of  the  House  from  Ohio,  he  attacked 
the  latter  and  gave  him  a  severe  beating.  Ar- 
rested for  a  breach  of  privilege,  he  received  a 
reprimand  at  the  bar  of  the  House  and  was 
fined  five  hundred  dollars ;  but  Jackson,  who 
had  him  a  welcome  guest  at  the  Executive  ]\Ian- 
sion,  remitted  the  fine.  Houston  left  \\'ashing- 
ton  soon  after  this  incident,  and  when  he  came 
again  to  the  capital  it  was  as  a  Senator  from 
Texas,  whose  independence  he  had  done  more 
than  any  other  man  to  achieve. 

Washington,  during  Jackson's  Presidency, 
also  saw  much  of  Nicholas  Biddle,  president 
and  directing  spirit  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States.  A  combination  of  poet,  scholar,  and 
financier,  Biddle  was  tlien  in  the  prime  of  a 
splendid  manhood,  tall  and  full-figured,  with  a 
large  head,  high  forehead,  hazel  eyes,  and  a 
317 


Washington  :    The  Capital   City 

mouth  and  chin  that  indicated  great  firmness. 
He  came  of  Quaker  stock,  a  fact  to  which, 
doubtless,  was  due  the  perfect  imperturbabihty 
that  never  left  him,  no  matter  how  fierce  the 
storm  that  raged  about  him.  He  had  also  the 
high  art  of  blending  dignity  with  ease  and 
suavity;  and  by  the  invariable  cheerfulness  of 
his  temper  he  long  baffled  his  opponents  and 
sustained  his  friends.  Self-poised  and  genial, 
no  harsh  word  ever  escaj^d  his  lips,  and  no 
provocation  could  draw  from  him  a  hasty  or 
angry  expression.  If  he  finally  died  of  a  broken 
heart,  as  some  of  his  friends  thought,  it  was 
the  heart  of  a  gallant  gentleman,  who,  if  nothing 
else,  left  his  country  good  manners  to  consider 
for  some  future  span  of  our  social  existence. 

Harriet  Martineau,  the  English  author,  came 
to  America  in  1834,  travelled  for  two  years 
through  New  England  and  the  Southern  States, 
and  on  her  return  home  recorded  her  impres- 
sions in  a  book  entitled  "  Society  in  America." 
The  three  fat  volumes  which  make  up  this  work 
afford  many  a  luminous  and  diverting  picture 
of  the  Washington  in  whose  streets  and  hostels 
Sam  Houston  loitered  in  Indian  garb  and 
"  Nick"    Biddle   held    frequent   and   quiet  con- 

3tS 


A   Day   of  First  Things 

ference  with  his  friends.  Miss  Martineau 
passed  several  months  at  the  capital ;  and  dur- 
ing her  stay  every  member  of  note  in  the  House 
and  Senate  constantly  resorted  to  her  parlors. 
She  was  a  favorite  with  Clay,  who  spent  many 
evenings  at  her  fireside,  and  she  describes  him 
as  sitting  quite  upright  on  the  sofa,  with  snuff- 
box ever  in  hand,  discoursing  steadily,  in  soft, 
deliberate  tones,  on  any  topic  of  American  af- 
fairs that  might  occur,  "  always  amusing  us 
with  the  moderation  of  estimate  and  speech 
which  so  impetuous  a  nature  has  been  able  to 
attain." 

There,  too,  was  \\'ebster  leaning  back  at  his 
ease,  telling  stories,  cracking  jokes,  shaking  his 
sides  with  burst  after  burst  of  laughter,  or 
"  smoothly  discoursing  to  the  perfect  felicity 
of  the  logical  part  of  one's  constitution."  And 
there,  too,  was  Calhoun,  "  looking  as  if  he  were 
never  born  and  never  could  be  extinguished. 
He  kept  our  understandings  at  a  stretch,  and 
then  left  us  to  analyze  as  best  we  could  his 
closely  theoretical  talks."  Among  other  promi- 
nent visitors,  a  very  frequent  one  was  Justice 
Story,  whose  talk,  his  hostess  tells  us,  "  would 
gush  out  for  hours,  but  there  never  was  too 
319 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

much  of  it, — it  was  so  heartfelt,  so  lively,  so 
various ;  and  his  face  all  the  while,  notwith- 
standing his  gray  hair,  showing  all  the  mobility 
and  ingenuousness  of  a  child's."  Benton,  how- 
ever, she  neither  liked  by  instinct  nor  analysis, 
and  she  says  of  him,  as  he  appeared  in  the 
Senate,  that  "  he  sat  swelling  amid  his  piles  of 
papers  and  books,  looking  like  a  being  designed 
by  nature  to  be  a  good-humored  barber  or  inn- 
keeper, but  forced  by  fate  to  make  himself  into 
a  mock-heroic  Senator." 

Tvliss  Martineau  made  many  visits  to  the 
House  and  Senate. — the  latter  she  pronounced 
the  most  imposing  body  of  men  she  had  ever 
seen,  "  the  stamp  of  originality  impressed  on 
every  one;"  and,  of  course,  she  received  and 
accepted  an  invitation  to  dine  with  the  Presi- 
dent. She  found  Jackson,  when  they  met,  quite 
disposed  for  conversation.  "  Indeed,  he  did  noth- 
ing but  talk."  A  few  days  later  Miss  Martineau 
witnessed  an  attempt  to  assassinate  Jackson, 
made  one  afternoon  as  he  was  leaving  the  Capi- 
tol. His  assailant  was  a  journeyman  painter 
named  Lawrence.  Stepping  in  front  of  the 
President,  Lawrence  snapped  two  loaded  pis- 
tols at  him  in  rapid  succession,  but  the  percus- 
320 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

sion-cap  of  each  exploded  without  igniting  the 
charge,  and  he  was  at  once  seized  and  hand- 
cuffed. "  The  attack,"  writes  Miss  Martineau, 
"  threw  Mr.  Jackson  into  a  tremendous  passion. 
He  fears  nothing,  but  his  temper  is  not  equal 
to  his  courage.  Instead  of  putting  the  event 
calmly  aside  and  proceeding  with  the  business 
of  the  hour,  it  was  found  necessary  to  put  him 
in  his  carriage  and  take  him  home."  An  inves- 
tigation proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  Lawrence 
was  insane, — he  charged  Jackson  with  having 
deprived  him  of  the  English  crown;  but  the 
President,  imtil  his  dying  day,  cherished  the 
belief  that  the  friends  of  the  Bank  of  the  United 
States  had  connived  at  his  assassination. 

A  second  assault  was  made  on  Jackson  dur- 
ing his  Presidency.  One  day  in  May,  1833, 
while  he  was  on  his  way  to  Frederick,  Virginia, 
to  witness  the  laying  of  the  corner-stone  of 
a  monument  to  the  mother  of  \\^ashington, 
the  steamboat  touched  at  Alexandria,  and  a 
Virginian  named  Randolph  came  on  board. 
Making  his  way  into  the  cabin,  where  Jackson 
sat  smoking  his  pipe,  he  advanced  towards  him, 
and    struck   him   a   heavy   blow   on   the   cheek. 

Jackson  sprang  to  his  feet,  swearing  he  would 
1.-21  321 


Wabhington  :    T  he   Capital   City 

chastise  his  assailant  on  the  spot,  but  could  not 
get  at  his  adversary  before  the  latter  was  seized 
and  hurried  ashore.  No  attempt  was  made  to 
arrest  Randolph,  and  he  escaped  on  a  horse 
which  was  in  readiness. 

A  curious  story  lay  behind  this  second  as- 
sault. Randolph  had  been  lieutenant  of  the 
"  Constitution,"  of  which  Timberlake,  the  first 
husband  of  Mrs.  Eaton,  was  purser.  When 
Timberlake  committed  suicide  the  captain  of 
the  "Constitution"  directed  Randolph  to  take 
charge  of  the  stores  of  the  vessel,  and  tem- 
porarily discharge  the  duties  of  that  officer. 
Randolph,  though  a  brave  and  capable  officer, 
had  small  aptitude  for  business.  When  the  ship 
arrived  at  Norfolk,  and  he  was  required  to 
settle  the  purser's  accounts,  there  were  discre- 
pancies that  could  not  be  accounted  for,  and  he 
was  apparently  largely  in  arrears.  A  court- 
martial  was  ordered,  and  Randolph,  who  al- 
leged that  Timberlake  was  the  offender,  was 
fully  acquitted  on  every  charge  and  specifica- 
tion. Jackson,  believing  that  Timberlake's  wife 
and  children  had  been  wronged  by  Randolph, 
took  another  view  of  the  case.  He  disapproved 
of  the  finding  of  the  court,  and  Randolph,  after 


A   Day   of  First  Things 

a  protracted  controversy,  was  dismissed  from 
the  navy.  Anger  at  the  gross  injustice  he  felt 
had  been  done  him  caused  Randolph  to  assault 
Jackson,  but  there  could,  of  course,  be  no  pal- 
liation of  his  conduct  towards  an  aged  and  ven- 
erable man.  The  President,  speaking  of  the 
matter  to  a  former  messmate  of  Randolph,  ex- 
pressed his  astonishment  that  a  man  of  known 
gallantry  should  have  made  a  personal  assault 
upon  him.  ''  If  he  felt  himself  aggrieved  at  what 
I  had  done,"  said  Jackson,  "  I  would  have  had 
no  hesitation  in  waiving  my  rank  and  giving 
him  satisfaction." 

The  White  House,  when  ]\Iiss  Martineau  was 
a  guest  there,  had  lately  been  refurnished  at  a 
cost  of  several  thousand  dollars.  Particular 
attention  had  been  given  to  the  East  Room, 
which  was  now  adorned  with  four  mantel-pieces 
of  black  Italian  marble,  each  one  surmounted 
by  a  large  mirror  in  a  hea\^ily  gilded  orna- 
mental frame,  while  a  rich  Brussels  carpet  cov- 
ered the  floor,  and  three  large  cut-glass  mirrors 
hung  from  the  ceiling.  There  was  also  a  pro- 
fusion of  gilded  chairs  and  sofas  upholstered 
with  l:)lue  damask ;  heavy  curtains  of  blue  and 
yellow  moreen  shaded  the  windows,  and  French 
323 


Washington  :    The  Capital  City 

china  vases,  filled  with  artificial  flowers,  adorned 
the  mantel-pieces  and  the  three  marble-topped 
centre-tables. 

Simple  in  his  tastes,  Jackson  cared  little  for 
this  display  of  costly  furniture.  He  elected, 
instead,  to  pass  the  greater  portion  of  his  time 
in  his  office  on  the  second  floor  of  the  White 
House,  smoking  a  corn-cob  pipe  and  holding 
familiar  converse  with  visitors  and  friends.  He 
also  delighted,  until  enfeebled  by  sickness,  to 
take  daily  walks  about  Washington,  invariably 
greeting  whoever  he  chanced  to  meet  with  a 
hearty  "  How  do  you  do,  sir?  I  hope  to  see 
you  well,  sir."  Horse-racing  was  another  diver- 
sion into  which  he  entered  with  keenest  zest, 
and  he  was  nearly  always  to  be  seen  at  the 
spring  and  fall  races  over  the  National  Course 
just  north  of  Washington.  Jackson,  in  1836, 
had  a  filly  of  his  own  raising  brought  from  the 
Hermitage  and  entered  for  a  race  by  Donelson, 
his  private  secretary;  nor  did  he  conceal  his 
chagrin  when  the  filly  was  beaten  by  an  imported 
Irish  colt  owned  by  Captain  Robert  Stockton, 
of  the  navy,  and  he  had  to  pay  several  hundred 
dollars  in  lost  wagers. 

Bailie  Peyton,  twice  a  member  of  the  House 
324 


A   Day   of  First  Things 

from  Tennessee,  used  to  describe  with  relish  a 
visit  he  once  made  to  the  National  Course  with 
Jackson,  Van  Buren,  and  a  few  others,  to  wit- 
ness the  training  of  some  horses  for  an  approach- 
ing race.  They  went  on  horseback,  Jackson 
riding  his  favorite  gray  horse,  and  wearing  a 
white  fur  hat  with  a  broad  band  of  white  crape, 
which  towered  above  the  whole  group.  The 
President  greatly  enjoyed  the  trials  of  speed 
until  a  horse  named  Busiris  began  to  rear  and 
j^lunge.  Riding  forward  to  give  some  energetic 
advice  to  the  jockey,  he  suddenly  discovered 
the  Vice-President  ambling  along  at  his  side 
on  an  easy-going  nag.  "  Mr.  Van  Buren," 
shouted  Old  Hickory,  "  get  behind  me,  sir. 
They  will  run  over  you,  sir!"  and  the  Little 
Magician  quickly  retired  to  the  rear  of  his  chief, 
which,  Peyton  was  wont  to  add,  was  his  proper 
place. 

Van  Buren,  if  content  to  take  a  place  behind 
Jackson,  had  splendid  reward  for  his  submis- 
siveness.  A  Democratic  national  convention, 
held  at  Baltimore,  in  May.  1835,  quickly  and 
unanimously  nominated  him  for  President;  and 
in  the  campaign  that  followed  there  was  no  vital 
defection  from  the  Democracy.  The  only  open 
325 


Washington  :  The  Capital  City- 
rebellion  of  any  account,  strange  to  say,  centred 
in  Tennessee;  for,  with  all  his  influence,  Jack- 
son failed  to  control  his  own  State  either  as 
to  the  nomination  or  in  the  election.  It  was 
said  that  Calhoun  moved  Hugh  L.  White  to 
essay  the  defeat  of  his  old  chief's  candidate, 
and  White  was  accordingly  nominated  by  the 
Legislature  of  his  State. 

Clay,  fearing  he  could  not  be  elected  over 
Van  Buren,  refused  to  be  a  candidate.  The 
Whigs,  therefore,  presented  three  candidates, 
— William  Henry  Harrison,  Daniel  Webster, 
and  Willie  P.  Mangum.  It  was  hoped  that, 
by  reason  of  this  multiplicity  of  candidates,  the 
election  might  be  thrown  into  the  House;  but 
the  hope  proved  a  delusive  one.  Harrison,  the 
Whig  party's  most  general  representative  in 
the  contest,  received  seventy-three  electoral 
votes.  Webster  received  the  votes  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  Mangum  those  of  North  Carolina. 
White  headed  the  poll  in  Tennessee  and  Georgia, 
receiving  twenty-six  votes.  Van  Buren,  on  the 
other  hand,  secured  one  hundred  and  seventy, 
a  majority  of  forty-six  over  the  combined  votes 
of  his  rivals.     No  candidate  for  Vice-President 

receiving  a  majority  of  the  votes,  the  Senate 
326 


A   Day  of  First  Things 

in  due  time  elected  Richard  M.  Johnson,  who 
had  been  nominated  with  Van  Buren. 

The  close  of  Jackson's  second  term  was 
marked  by  scenes  hardly  less  exciting  than  those 
which  attended  his  first  induction  into  office. 
One  of  his  New  York  admirers,  Meacham  by 
name,  in  the  winter  of  1837  sent  to  the  White 
House  a  cheese  of  mammoth  size.  It  was  larger 
in  circumference  than  a  hogshead,  and  on  the 
box  in  which  it  was  brought  to  Washington 
was  a  portrait  of  Jackson  surmounted  by  the 
American  eagle.  The  President  on  Washing- 
ton's Birthday  held  a  farewell  reception,  at 
which  this  cheese  was  cut  and  distributed  in 
the  anteroom  of  the  \\'hite  House  as  a  parting 
gift.  Two  men,  with  knives  made  from  saw 
blades,  cut  into  the  unwieldy  mass,  giving-  each 
applicant  a  piece  weighing  two  or  three  pounds. 
Some  of  them  had  provided  themselves  with 
paper  in  which  to  wrap  their  portions,  but  many 
carried  them  away  in  their  hands  without  cov- 
ering, several  hundred  pounds  being  thus  dis- 
tributed or  carelessly  trodden  underfoot.  Thou- 
sands of  visitors  of  high  and  low  degree,  after 
getting  past  the  cheese,  elbowed  and  pushed 
their  way  into  the  Blue  Room,  where  they  were 
327 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

presented  to  Jackson,  whom  feeble  health  com- 
pelled to  remain  seated  in  his  chair.  Mrs.  Don- 
elson,  his  niece,  stood  at  his  side,  while  behind 
him,  with  a  smile  and  a  bow  for  every  one  of 
the  passing  throng,  was  President-elect  Van 
Buren.  The  Jacksonian  era  ended  as  it  began, 
with  the  crowd  triumphant. 


328 


CHAPTER    XIII 

THE  DEMOCRACY  IN  ECLIPSE 

WHILE  on  an  afternoon  in  February, 
1837,  the  electoral  votes  were  being 
counted  in  the  presence  of  the  two  houses  of 
Congress  Senator  Clay  remarked  to  Vice- 
President  Van  Buren,  with  courteous  signifi- 
cance, "  It  is  a  cloudy  day,  sir." 

"  But  the  sun  will  shine  on  the  fourth  of 
March,  sir,"  was  the  confident  reply. 

And  it  did,  for  not  a  cloud  flecked  the  sky 
on  the  day  of  Van  Buren's  inauguration.  Thou- 
sands of  people  came  from  all  parts  of  the 
country  to  witness  the  ceremony,  and  it  was 
through  crowds  of  cheering  admirers  that  the 
President  and  President-elect — Jackson  had 
risen  from  a  sick-bed  that  he  might  grace  the 
scene — drove  from  the  White  House  to  the 
Capitol.  A  volunteer  brigade  of  cavalry  and 
infantry  formed  their  escort,  and  they  rode  in 
a  carriage  made  of  wood  from  the  frigate  "  Con- 
stitution," presented  by  the  Democrats  of  New 
York.  Van  Buren  read  his  inaugural  address 
329 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

from  the  eastern  portico  of  the  Capitol,  and  the 
oath  was  administered  by  Chief  Justice  Taney, 
after  which  the  President  and  ex-President  re- 
turned to  the  White  House,  where  for  hours 
a  surging  tide  of  humanity  swept  past  the  new 
chief  magistrate  congratulating  him  upon  his 
inauguration.  Two  inaugural  balls  were  given 
in  the  evening,  the  largest  being  at  Carusi's 
saloon,  not  a  drinking-place,  as  the  name  might 
imply,  but  a  large  dancing-hall  in  which  were 
held  all  of  the  important  social  events  of  the 
period. 

Van  Buren's  wife  had  been  dead  for  many 
years  when  he  became  President,  and  for  a  time 
there  was  no  mistress  of  the  White  House.  But 
only  for  a  time.  The  President's  eldest  son  and 
private  secretary.  Abraham  Van  Buren,  a  gradu- 
ate of  West  Point  and  a  former  aide  on  the 
staff  of  General  \\"orth,  was  married  in  No- 
vember, 1837,  to  Angelica  Singleton,  a  South 
Carolina  heiress.  Mrs.  Van  Buren,  assisted  by 
the  wives  of  the  Cabinet  officers,  received  with 
her  father-in-law,  the  President,  on  New  Year's 
Day,  1838,  and  thereafter  filled  the  place  of 
mistress  of  the  White  House.  She  added  to 
youth  and  beauty  grace  of  manner,  tact,  and 
330 


The   Democracy   in   Eclipse 

vivacity,  and  her  social  leadership  was  long 
gratefully  remembered  in  Washington. 

Another  resident  of  the  White  House  during 
the  Van  Buren  Administration  was  the  Presi- 
dent's younger  son,  John,  then  a  tall,  handsome 
young  man  of  thirty,  whose  after-fame  as  a 
lawyer,  orator,  and  wit  still  lives.  One  finds 
in  all  the  memoirs  and  sketches  of  half  a  cen- 
tury ago  reference  to  John  Van  Buren's  man- 
ners and  his  gifts  as  a  wit  and  raconteur.  He 
was  attorney-general  of  New  York  in  1846, 
but  two  years  later  left  the  Democratic  party 
with  his  father,  and  when  the  latter  was  nomi- 
nated by  the  Free-Soil  party,  the  son's  oratorical 
abilities  were  most  effective  in  securing  converts 
for  the  new  departure.  John  Van  Buren  after- 
wards returned  to  the  Democratic  fold,  and 
whenever  taunted  by  his  associates  as  a  rene- 
gade, his  sole  excuse  for  his  former  action  was 
a  quaint  allusion  to  the  barnyard  anecdote, 
"  Dad  was  under  the  hay." 

Van  Buren  had  not  been  long  in  the  White 
House  before  he  had  it  refurnished  in  expensive 
fashion,  while  at  the  same  time  he  restored 
the  social  usages  which  had  been  followed  by 
Washington,  Aladison,  and  other  of  the  earlier 
331 


Washington :     The   Capital   City 

Presidents.  He  made  the  Executive  Mansion 
pleasant  and  attractive  to  all, — this  without  com- 
promising the  dignity  of  his  high  office, — and 
genial  and  social,  even  with  his  most  decided 
opponents,  he  soon  attracted  crowds  to  his 
levees  and  receptions.  Thus  the  White  House 
lost  the  cold  and  depressing  air  it  had  worn 
during  the  closing  days  of  the  Jackson  Admin- 
istration, when  increasing  age  and  infirmity 
made  its  occupant  austere,  arrogant,  and  im- 
patient, too  often,  of  contradiction. 

A  graphic  picture  of  the  Washington  of  Van 
Buren's  time  has  a  place  in  the  published  recol- 
lections of  James  G.  Berret,  sometime  mayor 
of  the  city.  Washington  in  1839,  Mr.  Berret 
writes,  was  still  "  a  straggling  village.  Ther& 
was  not  a  paved  street,  and  the  sidewalks  were 
very  imperfect,  while  the  crossings  from  one 
side  of  the  street  to  the  other  were  formed  of 
narrow  flagstones,  and  the  gutters  of  cobble- 
stones rendered  necessary  to  carry  off  the 
drainage,  which  at  that  time  was  entirely  upon 
the  surface.  There  was  no  gas-light  and  no 
water  except  what  was  taken  from  the  pumps 
distributed  over  the  city.  A  pump  would  often 
get  out  of  order,  and  that  always  created  trouble 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

in  the  neighljorlioorl,  not  only  with  the  fami- 
lies bnt  with  the  servants,  who  had  to  travel 
off  a  square  or  two  to  find  a  pump  and  get 
water  for  domestic  wants.  There  w^ere  no  car- 
riages nor  omnilDuses  nor  conveyances  of  any 
sort.  The  lighting  was  with  oil  lamps,  sparsely 
distributed,  and  on  dark  nights  the  population 
had  to  grope  their  way  about  the  town  as  best 
they  could.  But  wath  all  these  difficulties,"  adds 
Mr.  Berret,  "  Washington  possessed  many  ad- 
vantages for  social  enjoyment  and  comfort. 
The  members  of  Congress  identified  themselves 
with  the  people  of  the  city  and  exchanged  a 
generous  hospitality;  so  that  from  a  social  point 
of  view  that  period  marked  an  agreeable  era  in 
the  history  of  Washington  life." 

Van  Buren,  in  official  matters,  at  first  made 
no  departure  from  the  path  marked  out  by  his 
predecessor.  Jackson's  Cabinet  was  retained  in 
office  :  John  Forsyth  as  Secretary  of  State ;  Levi 
Woodbury  as  Secretary  of  the  Treasury ;  Mah- 
lon  Dickerson  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  which 
post  he  had  held  since  1834;  Amos  Kendall  as 
Postmaster-General ;  and  Benjamin  F.  Butler, 
who  in  1833  had  succeeded  Taney,  as  Attorney- 
General.     One  place  was  vacant, — that  of  Sec- 

333 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

retary  of  War,  through  the  appointment  of  Cass 
as  minister  to  France  in  1836;  and  this  was 
g-iven  to  Joel  R.  Poinsett,  one  of  the  few  promi- 
nent men  of  South  Carolina  who  had  opposed 
nullification.  Dickerson  was  succeeded  in  1838 
by  James  K.  Paulding,  of  New  York,  and  in 
1840  Kendall  gave  way  to  John  M.  Niles,  of 
Connecticut.  Butler,  who  was  the  President's 
old  law  partner,  left  the  department  of  justice 
in  1838.  His  successor  was  Felix  Grundy, 
who  also  resigned  at  the  end  of  two  years. 
Van  Buren's  last  Attorney-General  was  Henry 
D.  Gilpin,  a  once  prominent  but  now  almost 
forgotten  member  of  the  Philadelphia  bar,  who 
had  served  as  solicitor  of  the  treasury  under 
Jackson. 

Van  Buren's  political  success  up  to  1836  had 
been  extraordinary,  and  he  had,  moreover,  truly 
great  talent  and  ability  for  public  affairs.  He 
came  to  the  Presidency,  however,  in  an  un- 
propitious  hour,  for  he  had  been  only  a  few 
weeks  in  office  when  he  was  compelled  to  face 
the  financial  crash  of  1837.  It  will  be  remem- 
bered that  when,  in  1833,  the  public  funds  were 
removed  from  the  Bank  of  the  United  States, 
they    were    deposited    in    certain    State    banks. 

334 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

These  institutions,  which  soon  came  to  be  known 
as  "the  pet  banks,"  loaned  the  pubhc  moneys 
on  securities  often  of  doubtful  value  or  worth- 
less,— an  unwise  situation  of  private  trade  and 
speculation,  which  at  the  end  of  four  years 
bore  melancholy  fruit  in  general  bankruptcy. 
Banks  suspended  payment,  business  houses  col- 
lapsed, and  manufacturers  were  compelled  to 
discharge  their  workmen.  Funds  at  the  same 
time  being  unobtainable  for  the  removal  east- 
ward of  the  Western  crops,  the  price  of  food- 
stuffs rose  with  fatal  rapidity,  and  there  was 
much  distress  in  the  large  cities  of  the  Atlantic 
seaboard. 

The  President,  to  allay  popular  clamor,  con- 
vened Congress  in  an  extra  session  called  for 
September  4.  His  message  to  that  body,  on 
its  assembling,  was  one  of  the  ablest  ever  penned 
by  any  President.  It  included  a  masterly  analy- 
sis of  the  financial  situation  and  of  the  causes 
that  had  led  to  it,  and  outlined  a  plan  for  the 
divorce  of  the  fiscal  affairs  of  the  government 
from  those  of  private  individuals  and  corpo- 
rations by  the  estal)lishment  of  an  independent 
treasury  for  the  safe-keeping  and  disbursement 
of  the  public  moneys.  This  idea  was  not  new, 
335 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

but  it  was  a  favorite  with  Van  Buren,  and  with 
signal  energy  and  firmness  he  enforced  it  upon 
Congress.  The  Whigs,  however,  led  by  Clay 
and  Webster,  vehemently  opposed  it;  and  it 
was  not  until  near  the  close  of  his  administra- 
tion that  Van  Buren  succeeded  in  procuring 
the  assent  of  Congress  to  the  radical  measure 
that  divorced  the  treasury  from  private  banking 
and  trade.  The  measure,,  though  formally  re- 
pealed by  the  Wliig  Congress  of  1842,  was  re- 
enacted  four  years  later,  and  has  ever  since  held 
its  place  under  all  changes  of  administration. 

The  establishment  of  the  independent  treas- 
ury, accordingly,  remains  the  crowning  act  of 
Van  Buren's  public  career.  Its  achievement 
appears  all  tlie  more  remarkable  when  one  re- 
members that  it  was  wrung  from  a  law-making 
body  of  exceptional  strength  and  ability.  In- 
deed, neither  branch  of  Congress  has  ever  con- 
tained a  greater  number  of  men  already  dis- 
tinguished and  to  attain  distinction  than  those 
who  served  therein  during  Van  Buren's  term. 
Among  the  new  members  of  the  House  from 
New  England  were  Charles  G.  Atherton,  of 
New  Hampshire,  who  later  served  two  terms 
in  the  Senate ;    Nathan  Clifford,  of  Maine,  who 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

thus  began  a  national  career  which  carried  him 
to  a  place  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court; 
Leverett  Saltonstall,  of  Massachusetts,  a  ready 
and  resourceful  debater;  Joseph  L.  Tillinghast, 
of  Rhode  Island,  who  soon  proved  himself  one 
of  the  best-equipped  legislators  of  his  time ;  and 
Truman  Smith,  of  Connecticut,  a  man  of  un- 
usual sagacity,  who  long  exercised  a  potent 
though  silent  influence  in  national  politics. 

New  York  sent  Ogden  Hofifman,  a  brilliant 
advocate,  who  in  his  youth  had  fought  with 
Decatur  against  the  Barbary  corsairs.  John 
Sargent  was  again  a  member  from  Pennsyl- 
vania. Maryland  was  represented  by  John  P. 
Kennedy,  and  Virginia  by  John  Minor  Botts 
and  Robert  M.  T,  Hunter,  the  latter  two  des- 
tined twenty  years  later  to  enact  widely  different 
roles  in  the  drama  of  secession.  North  Caro- 
lina returned  Edward  Stanley,  and  her  sister 
State,  Waddy  Thompson  and  Robert  Barnwell 
Rhett,  the  last  named  a  fiery  apostle  of  States'- 
rights,  who,  after  twelve  years  of  service  as  a 
Representative,  was  to  succeed  Calhoun  in  the 
Senate.  Venerable  John  Pope,  who  a  genera- 
tion before  had  served  his  State  in  the  Senate, 
was  a  member  of  the  Kentucky  delegation. 
I.-22  337 


Washington  :    The  Capital   City 

Tennessee's  contingent  included  Aaron  V. 
Brown,  subsequently  governor  of  his  State  and 
Postmaster-General,  and  INIeredith  P.  Gentry, 
one  of  the  leaders  of  the  Whig  party,  and  an 
apt,  powerful,  and  often  eloquent  debater. 
Henry  S.  Lane,  of  Indiana,  and  William  H. 
Bissell,  of  Illinois,  were  each  to  become  gov- 
ernor of  his  State,  while  similar  honors  were 
in  store  for  James  D.  Doty,  of  Wisconsin,  a 
man  of  great  ability,  commanding  presence,  and 
winning  address. 

Other  new  members  of  the  House  were  Hugh 
S.  Legare,  of  South  Carolina ;  Sargeant  S.  Pren- 
tiss, of  Mississippi ;  and  Joshua  R.  Giddings,  of 
Ohio.  Legare,  an  offshoot  of  mingled  Hugue- 
not and  Scottish  stock,  was  a  man  of  rare  intel- 
lectual endowments,  whose  forensic  powers 
remain  one  of  the  abiding  traditions  of  the 
South.  As  a  popular  orator,  however,  he  was 
not  the  equal  of  Prentiss,  a  native  of  ]\Iaine, 
who,  removing  at  an  early  age  to  Mississippi, 
there  rose,  in  a  space  of  time  extraordinarily 
brief,  to  a  master-place  at  the  bar.  He  was 
elected  to  the  House  as  a  AA  hig,  in  1837,  and, 
finding  his  seat  preoccupied  by  the  Democratic 
candidate    at    the    election,    he    vindicated    his 


The   Democracy   in   Eclipse 

claim  in  a  speech  nearly  three  days'  long,  which 
gave  him  a  national  reputation  as  an  orator 
of  the  first  rank.  His  claim  having  heen  re- 
jected l)y  the  casting  vote  of  Speaker  Polk, 
he  returned  to  Mississippi,  and  after  a  vigorous 
canvass  was  again  elected  by  a  large  majority. 
Prentiss,  during  the  remainder  of  his  term,  de- 
livered several  speeches  remarka1)le  for  logical 
power,  combined  with  intense  energy,  keen  wit, 
and  vivid  imagination ;  but  he  soon  tired  of 
Congressional  life,  and  in  the  spring  of  1839 
returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession. 

Legare,  like  Prentiss,  served  only  a  single 
term,  and  was  never  again  in  Congress ;  l)ut 
Giddings  sat  for  twenty  years  in  the  House, 
where  he  took  a  leading  and  at  the  first  almost 
single-handed  part  in  the  long  fight  for  the  abo- 
lition of  slavery.  Six  feet  two  inches  in  height, 
and  broad  in  proportion,  with  rugged  features 
and  a  massive  head  crowned  in  later  life  with 
a  profusion  of  white  hair,  Giddings  was  the 
master  of  a  ready  and  vehement  style  of  oratory 
which  soon  made  him  a  factor  to  be  reckoned 
with  in  debate.  Interruptions  never  disconcerted 
him.  On  the  contrary,  he  welcomed  them,  and 
was  never  more  in  his  clement  than  when  deal- 
339. 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

ing  quick  and  heavy  blows  to  half  a  dozen 
Sdl-itherners  who  had  undertaken  to  bait  him, 
but  who  invariably  fell  back  discomfited.  For 
years  before  he  left  it  he  was  called  the  "  Father 
of  the  House,"  and  the  esteem  and  respect  gen- 
erally paid  him  were  felt  even  by  the  Southern 
men,  who  recognized  in  the  brave,  clear-visioned 
old  man  a  foe  worthy  of  their  steel. 

Berrien,  of  Georgia,  and  ^langum,  of  North 
Carolina,  in  1840  returned  to  the  Senate,  where 
they  were  now  to  serve  for  a  dozen  years  or 
more,  while  Pennsylvania  supplied  a  unique 
senatorial  figure  in  Daniel  Sturgeon,  a  doctor 
turned  law-maker,  who  soon  became  known 
among  his  associates  as  the  "  silent  Senator.'' 
Though  a  hard-working  committee  member, 
Sturgeon,  during  his  twelve  years  in  the  Sen- 
ate, never  made  but  one  speech,  and  that  was 
to  reiterate  a  remark  he  had  made  in  committee, 
that  "  any  Senator  who  says  anything  that  w'ould 
tend  to  the  disruption  of  the  Union  is  a  black- 
hearted villain."  Another  silent  Senator  was 
Thomas  Clayton,  of  Delaware,  a  man  of  the 
finest  mental  and  moral  caliber,  who,  though 
he  seldom,  if  ever,  addressed  the  Senate,  exer- 
cised great  influence  on  his  fellow-members.  One 
340 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

of  Ohio's  Senators  was  Benjamin  Tappan,  a 
member  of  the  famous  aboHtionist  family  of 
that  name,  and  himself  a  man  of  wit,  courage, 
and  sagacity;  the  other  was  William  Allen, 
who  took  his  seat  in  March.  1837,  at  an  earlier 
age  than  any  other  federal  Senator  was  ever 
elected. 

Allen  had  previously  sat  for  a  single  term 
in  the  House,  and  he  served  for  twelve  years 
in  the  Senate,  where  his  majestic  presence. — he 
was  above  six  feet  in  height, — sturdy  opinions, 
and  sonorous  and  caustic  oratory  never  failed 
to  command  attention.  He  lives  in  history  as 
one  of  the  few  men  who  have  put  aside  the 
Presidency  when  it  was  within  their  grasp. 
When  the  Baltimore  convention  of  1848  failed 
to  agree  upon  either  Cass  or  Van  Buren  as  the 
Democratic  candidate  for  President,  a  commit- 
tee made  up  of  supporters  of  both  men  waited 
upon  Allen  in  Washington  and  urged  him  to 
accept  the  nomination  for  the  sake  of  harmony. 
Though  formally  offered  the  nomination  with 
the  assurance  that  the  convention  would  ratify 
the  action  of  the  committee,  he  refused,  for 
the  reason  that  he  had  been  a  personal  friend 
and  adviser  of  Cass  and  could  not  honorably 
abandon  his  canvass. 

.^41 


Washington  :    The  Capital   City 

Allen  entered  the  Senate  in  time  to  partici- 
pate, as  a  supporter  of  Van  Buren,  in  the  de- 
bate upon  the  independent  treasury  scheme. 
Another  ardent  advocate  of  the  bill  was  Cal- 
houn, who,  having  severed  his  late  alliance  with 
the  Whigs,  engaged  with  his  usual  vigor  in 
support  of  the  financial  measures  of  the  Admin- 
istration. His  defection,  though  not  unexpected, 
was  warmly  resented  by  the  \\niigs,  and,  in 
February,  1838,  Clay,  as  the  mouth-piece  of  his 
party,  attacked  Calhoun  in  one  of  the  most 
elaborate  and  finished  speeches  of  his  whole 
career.  The  argumentative  portion  of  this 
speech,  directed  against  the  independent  treas- 
ury scheme,  was  very  able,  and,  so  far  as  the 
case  admitted,  conclusive  and  unanswerable; 
but  it  was  in  his  impeachment  of  Calhoun  as  a 
man  of  consistency  and  sound  judgment  that 
Clay  put  forth,  and  in  the  most  effective  form, 
his  remarkable  powers.  He  reviewed  Calhoun's 
career  for  twenty  years,  omitting  no  important 
feature,  and  dwelling  with  cutting  severity  upon 
his  desertion  of  the  cause  which  he  had  long 
supported  with  so  much  zeal  and  ability. 

Calhoun,  cut  to  the  quick,  arose  as  soon  as 
Clay  had  concluded,  and  announced  that  he 
342 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

would  seek  early  opportunity  to  pay  his  respects 
to  the  Senator,  adding  that  when  he  did  so  the 
debt  between  them  would  be  fully  discharged. 
His  reply,  when  it  came  three  weeks  later,  was 
remarkable  for  logical  vigor,  terse  statement, 
and  keen  retort.  The  debate  then  subsided  into 
a  colloquy,  ending  in  a  spirit  of  courtesy  and 
amicable  feeling,  but  soon  broke  out  again  on 
a  new  point  with  so  much  personal  bitterness 
as  to  sever  all  personal  relations  between  the 
two  Senators. 

A  few  months  after  the  debate  between  Clay 
and  Calhoun  the  House  was  the  theatre  of  a 
very  different  but  not  less  memorable  contest. 
Polk  was  re-elected  Speaker  in  1837,  but  when 
the  Twenty-sixth  Congress  convened  in  De- 
cember, 1839,  the  Whigs  thought  themselves 
strong  enough  to  enter  into  the  struggle  for 
the  Speakership.  There  were  five  \Miig  mem- 
bers from  Xew  Jersey  whose  election  was  con- 
tested, but  whose  names  must  be  added  to  the 
roll  if  their  party  was  to  control  the  House. 
When  the  clerk,  in  calling  the  roll  on  the  open- 
ing of  the  session,  came  to  New  Jersey,  he 
stated  that  there  being  five  contested  seats  from 
this  State  he  should  pass  them  over,  not  taking 

343 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

the  responsibility  of  deciding  whether  they  were 
elected  or  not. 

A  dozen  Whig  members  were  instantly  on 
their  feet  protesting  against  the  action  of  the 
clerk,  who,  however,  refused  to  recede  from 
the  position  he  had  taken,  or  submit  to  a  vote 
of  the  House  the  resolutions  that  were  offered 
him.  There  followed  three  days  of  disorder, 
confusion,  and  excitement,  but  on  the  morning 
of  the  fourth  the  venerable  John  Ouincy  Adams, 
who  up  to  that  time  had  taken  no  part  in  the 
conflict,  came  forward  to  quell  the  storm. 

"What  a  scene  we  here  present!"  said  he. 
"  We  degrade  our  constituents  and  the  country. 
We  do  not  and  cannot  organize,  and  why? 
Because  the  clerk  of  this  House — the  mere  clerk 
whom  we  create,  whom  we  employ,  and  whose 
existence  depends  on  our  will — usurps  the  throne 
and  sets  us,  the  Representatives,  the  vice-regents 
of  the  whole  American  people,  at  defiance  and 
holds  us  in  contempt." 

"  The  clerk,"  a  Democratic  member  inter- 
rupted, "  will  resign  rather  than  call  the  State 
of  New  Jersey." 

"  Let  him  resign,"  rejoined  Adams,  with  a 
withering  look.     "  If  we  cannot  organize  in  any 

344 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

other  way;  if  this  clerk  of  yours  will  not  con- 
sent to  our  discharging-  the  trust  confided  to 
us  by  our  constituents,  then  let  us  imitate  the 
example  of  the  Virginia  House  of  Burgesses, 
which,  when  the  colonial  Governor  Dinwiddle 
ordered  it  to  disperse,  refused  to  obey  the  impe- 
rious and  insulting  mandate,  and  like  men " 

Here  the  speaker  was  interrupted  by  a  burst 
of  applause,  for  the  story  of  the  old  Raleigh 
tavern  and  the  Apollo  ball-room  was  a  familiar 
one.  When  it  subsided,  Robert  Barnwell  Rhett, 
from  the  top  of  a  desk,  moved  that  Adams 
"  take  the  chair  of  Speaker  of  the  House,  and 
officiate  as  presiding  officer  until  the  House  be 
organized  ])y  the  election  of  its  constitutional 
officers."  Rhett's  motion,  put  by  himself,  was 
enthusiastically  carried,  and  Adams  conducted 
to  the  chair.  He  had  now  a  most  trying  part 
to  play,  for  the  parties  were  evenly  balanced, 
and  in  the  eleven  days  of  balloting  for  a  Speaker 
that  ensued  his  patience,  wisdom,  and  judgment 
were  severely  tested.  The  contest  at  length 
ended  in  the  triumph  of  the  Whigs  and  the  elec- 
tion of  Robert  M.  T.  Hunter  as  Speaker. 

Those  were  stormy  days  in  Congress.  Per- 
sonal   altercations   between    members    were    of 

345 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

frequent  occurrence,  and  the  month  in  which 
fell  the  debate  between  Clay  and  Calhoun  also 
witnessed  a  lamentable  and  fatal  meeting  at 
Bladensburg.  Jonathan  Cilley,  a  member  of  the 
House  from  Maine,  took  occasion,  in  the  course 
of  debate,  to  criticise  a  charge  of  corruption 
brought  against  an  unnamed  Congressman  in 
a  letter  published  in  the  New  York  Courier  and 
Enquirer.  James  Watson  Webb,  editor  of  that 
journal,  at  once  visited  Washington,  and  sent 
a  challenge  to  Cilley  by  William  J.  Graves,  a 
member  of  the  House  from  Kentucky.  Cilley 
refused  to  accept  the  challenge  on  the  ground 
that  he  had  no  acquaintance  w^ith  Webb,  where- 
upon Graves,  feeling  himself  bound  by  the  code 
to  espouse  the  cause  of  his  principal,  himself 
challenged  Cilley.  This  challenge  was  accepted, 
and  the  preliminaries  were  arranged  between 
Henry  A.  Wise,  as  the  second  of  Graves,  and 
George  W.  Jones,  as  the  second  of  Cilley. 

The  two  men  met  at  Bladensburg  on  the 
morning  of  February  24,  1838.  The  weapons 
used  were  rifles,  at  forty  paces.  Cilley  was  an 
expert  marksman,  while  Graves  w'as  wholly 
unused  to  fire-arms.  Three  shots  were  ex- 
changed. Between  the  second  and  third  shots 
346 


The  Democracy  in   Eclipse 

efforts  were  made  to  reach  an  amicable  settle- 
ment. These  failed,  and  at  the  third  exchange 
Cilley,  by  what  Graves  always  claimed  was  a 
chance  shot,  fell  pierced  through  the  heart. 
Graves,  on  seeing  his  antagonist  fall,  expressed 
a  desire  to  render  him  some  assistance,  but  was 
told  by  Jones  that  he  was  dead.  The  tragic  taking- 
off  of  Cilley,  a  man  of  brilliant  parts  and  a  col- 
lege classmate  of  Longfellow  and  Hawthorne, 
created  as  profound  a  sensation  as  had  the  death 
of  Decatur  eighteen  years  before,  but  his  fate 
w'as  not  less  pitiful  than  that  of  Graves,  who 
lingered  a  few  years  a  mental  and  physical 
wreck,  wasting  the  brief  remainder  of  his  life 
in  remorse  and  misery. 

Washington  life  at  this  period  had,  however, 
its  lighter  as  well  as  its  graver  side.  Not  only 
did  President  Van  Buren  give  numerous  enter- 
tainments at  the  White  House,  but  he  prevailed 
upon  the  members  of  his  Cabinet  and  their  prin- 
cipal subordinates  to  do  the  same,  and  at  more 
than  a  score  of  houses  fortnightly  dinner-parties 
and  evening  receptions  were  given  during  the 
successive  sessions  of  Congress.  These  dinner- 
parties, we  are  told,  "  were  very  much  alike, 
and  those  who  v/ere  in  succession  guests  at  dif- 
347 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

ferent  houses  often  saw  the  same  table  ornaments, 
and  were  served  by  the  same  waiters,  while 
the  fare  was  prepared  by  the  same  cook.  The 
guests  were  wont  to  assemble  in  the  parlor, 
^vhich  w'as  almost  invariably  connected  with  the 
dining-room  by  large  folding-doors.  When  the 
dinner  was  ready  the  folding-doors  were  thrown 
open, 'and  the  table  was  revealed,  covered  with 
dishes  and  cut-glass  ware.  Soup  was  invariably 
served,  followed  by  boiled  fish,  overdone  roast 
beef  or  mutton,  roast  fowd  or  game  in  season, 
and  a  great  variety  of  puddings,  pies,  cake,  and 
ice-cream.  The  fish,  meat,  and  fowl  were 
carved  and  helped  by  the  host,  while  the  lady 
of  the  house  distributed  vegetables,  the  pickles, 
and  dessert.  Champagne,  w'ithout  ice,  w^as  spar- 
ingly supplied  in  long,  slender  glasses,  but  there 
was  no  lack  of  sound  claret,  and  \vith  the  des- 
sert several  bottles  of  old  madeira  were  gen- 
erally produced  by  the  host,  who  succinctly  gave 
the  age  and  historv  of  each." 

The  same  authority  informs  us  in  another 
place  that  "  at  the  evening  parties  the  carpet  \vas 
lifted  from  the  room  set  apart  for  dancing,  and 
the  floor  was  chalked  with  colors  to  protect  the 
dancers  from  slipping.  The  music  was  almost 
348 


The   Democracy   in   Eclipse 

invariably  a  first  and  second  violin,  with  flute 
and  harp  accompaniments.  Light  refreshments, 
such  as  water-ices,  lemonade,  negus,  and  small 
cakes,  were  handed  about  on  waiters  between 
every  two  or  three  dances.  The  crowning 
glory,  however,  of  the  entertainment  was  the 
supper,  which  had  been  prepared  under  the 
supervision  of  the  hostess,  aided  by  some  of 
her  intimate  friends,  who  had  also  loaned  their 
china  and  silverware.  The  table  was  covered 
with  a  la  mode  beef,  cold  roast  turkey,  ducks, 
and  chickens ;  fried  and  stewed  ovsters,  blanc- 
mange,  jellies,  whips,  floating-islands,  candied 
oranges,  and  numerous  varieties  of  tarts  and 
cakes.  Very  often  the  young  men,  after  having 
escorted  the  young  ladies  to  their  respective 
homes,  would  meet  again  at  some  oyster-house 
to  go  out  on  a  lark,  in  imitation  of  the  young 
English  bloods  in  the  favorite  parts  of  '  Tom 
and  Jerry.'  Singing,  or  rather  shouting,  popu- 
lar songs,  they  would  break  windows,  wrench 
off  knockers,  call  up  doctors,  and  transpose 
sign-boards;  nor  was  there  a  night-watchman 
to  interfere  with  their  roistering." 

Few  of  the  official  or  private   functions  of 
Van  Buren's  time  were  counted  complete  with- 

349 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

out  the  presence  of  the  venerable  widow  of 
Alexander  Hamilton,  who  spent  her  last  years 
at  the  capital.  Another  welcome  and  honored 
guest  in  every  Washington  drawing-room  was 
the  aging  and  white-haired  Dolly  Madison.  A 
part  of  the  estate  left  by  Madison  when  he 
died,  in  June,  1836,  was  the  fine  house  at  the 
corner  of  Madison  Place  and  H  Street,  now 
the  home  of  the  Cosmos  Club.  It  had  been 
built  about  1825  by  Richard  Cutts,  the  brother- 
in-law  of  ]\Irs.  ]\Iadison,  and  had  come  into 
Madison's  possession  the  year  before  his  death, 
in  settlement  of  a  debt.  Mrs.  Madison  was 
then  too  poor  to  occupy  it,  but  in  March;  1837, 
an  act  of  Congress  was  approved  by  Jackson 
appropriating  thirty  thousand  dollars  to  pur- 
chase Madison's  diary  of  the  debates  and  events 
connected  with  the  framing  of  the  Federal  Con- 
stitution. This  money,  later  supplemented  by 
another  generous  appropriation  for  the  purchase 
of  the  ex-President's  unpublished  papers,  enabled 
Mrs.  Madison  to  live  in  the  city  house;  and 
in  the  fall  of  1837  she  gladly  returned  to  the 
capital,  which  she  had  always  loved,  and  at 
which  she  continued  to  reside  until  her  death 

in  July,  1849. 

350 


The   Democracy   in   Eclipse 

Mrs.  Aladison's  return  to  Washington  re- 
newed in  private  life  the  social  triumphs  she 
had  achieved  in  earlier  years,  when  her  hus- 
band was  successi\-ely  Secretary  of  State  and 
President.  Looking  over  the  company  on  the 
occasion  of  her  first  reception,  she  said  to  an 
old  friend  at  her  side,  '*  \Miat  a  difference 
twenty  years  make  in  the  face  of  society !  Here 
are  young  men  and  women  not  born  when  I 
left  the  capital,  whose  names  are  familiar,  but 
whose  faces  are  unknown  to  me."  She  re- 
tained, however,  at  sixty-five  much  of  the  fasci- 
nation of  her  girlhood  and  young  womanhood. 
She  was  quick  to  manifest  hearty  interest  in 
both  the  old  and  the  young,  while  her  kindness 
of  heart  and  gentleness  of  manner  were  un- 
failing. Her  home  fairly  rivalled  the  Wdiite 
House  as  a  social  centre.  The  same  distin- 
guished personages  who,  on  New  Year's  Days, 
paid  their  respects  to  the  President  hastened 
across  the  square  to  greet  IMrs.  Madison  with 
all  good  wishes;  and  on  every  Fourth  of  July 
her  parlors  were  thronged.  The  day  of  her 
death,  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  was  one  of 
sincere  and  universal  mourning  in  Washington. 

The  Van  Buren  Administration  came  in  under 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

a  cloud;  it  was  destined  to  go  out  in  the  same 
way.  Following  the  panic  of  1837  there  was 
partial  recovery  from  the  effects  of  that  crisis. 
Business  revived  and  foreign  commerce  began 
to  regain  its  normal  volume.  But  in  October, 
1839,  there  was  a  sudden  change  in  the  situa- 
tion. The  banks  of  Philadelphia  suspended, 
and  their  example  was  generally  followed,  save 
in  New  York  and  New  England.  A  paralyzing 
stupor  again  fell  on  trade  and  business;  and 
again  the  farmer  was  unable  to  sell  his  products 
and  the  manufacturer  compelled  to  discharge 
his  workmen.  These  conditions  told  heavily 
against  Van  Buren's  chances  of  re-election  to 
the  Presidency.  The  popular  mind  was  also 
profoundly  affected  by  the  proved  peculations 
of  Democratic  office-holders  and  by  inquiries 
started  in  Congress  as  to  Van  Buren's  life  in 
the  White  House.  Speeches  were  made  in  the 
House,  in  which  his  mode  of  living  was  graphi- 
cally contrasted  with  the  simpler  manner  of 
his  predecessors.  Golden  goblets  and  spoons, 
costly  china  and  fine  linen,  carriages  and  ser- 
vants, it  was  charged  by  the  Whig  speakers, 
were  the  President's  portion,  while  the  masses 
toiled  and  suffered  to  pay  for  them.  These 
352 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

speeches,  profusely  circulated  as  campaign  docu- 
ments, produced  a  telling  effect  upon  the  people. 

Thus,  while  Van  Buren's  hold  upon  the  ma- 
chinery of  his  party  was  strong  enough  to  secure 
him  a  renomination  in  1840,  it  was  predicted 
by  shrewd  observers  that  whoever  secured  the 
Whig  nomination  would  also  carry  the  election. 
The  sentiment  of  the  Whig  party  was  decidedly 
in  favor  of  the  nomination  of  Clay,  but  half  a 
dozen  influential  Whigs  in  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania,  with  Thurlow  Weed  at  their 
head,  were  secretly  opposed  to  it,  and  by  adroit 
sleight-of-hand  compassed  Clay's  defeat  in  the 
Whig  convention  held  at  Harrisburg. 

A  singular  combination  of  circumstances 
made  this  possible.  The  men  who  had  Clay's 
canvass  in  hand  were  not  sharp  enough  to  pre- 
vent trickery,  while  General  Scott  was  popular 
enough  in  New  York  to  secure  the  compliment- 
ary votes  of  the  delegates  which  by  right  should 
have  gone  to  Clay;  and  the  anti-Masonic  feel- 
ing, which  for  some  years  had  been  a-  factor  in 
politics,  was  shrewdly  utilized  in  Pennsylvania, 
when  nothing  else  could  have  been,  to  disguise 
the  opposition  of  a  few  politicians  to  Clay.  And 
so  Clay  was  put  aside  and  the  nomination  given 
^■-^3  553 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

to  Harrison,  who,  four  years  before,  had  met 
with  overwhehiiing  defeat.  Clay's  rage  at  the 
outcome  was  unbounded.  "  My  friends,"  said 
he  when  informed  of  his  defeat,  "  are  not  worth 
the  powder  and  sliot  it  would  take  to  kill  them. 
I  am  the  most  unfortunate  man  in  the  history 
of  parties, — always  run  by  my  friends  when 
sure  to  be  defeated,  and  now  betrayed  when 
I  or  any  one  else  would  be  sure  of  an  election." 
Though  the  nomination  of  Harrison  was  as 
gall  and  "wormwood  to  Clay  and  his  friends, 
it  proved  instantly  popular  with  the  people,  and 
the  campaign  which  followed  it  was  the  most 
picturesque  and  dramatic  the  country  had  ever 
seen.  No  such  excitement  was  ever  shown  in 
any  canvass  before  or  since.  The  Whig  candi- 
date was  especially  popular  with  the»  young  men. 
Many  of  these  still  live,  and  the  fire  of  their 
youthful  ardor  seems  to  kindle  again  as  they 
tell  of  the  mighty  throngs  that  followed  the 
stump-speakers  into  the  fields,  sang  the  cam- 
paign songs,  danced  with  glee  around  the  repre- 
sentations of  log  cabins,  and  quafTed  hard  cider. 
The  enthusiasm  of  the  Whigs  was  unbounded 
and  made  the  country  a  scene  of  political  festival 
for  the  greater  part  of  six  months.    Nor,  though 

354 


The   Democracy  in   Eclipse 

the  Democrats  sought  to  divide  it,  was  this 
enthusiasm  misplaced.  Van  Buren  received  only 
sixty  electoral  votes  to  two  hundred  and  thirty- 
four  cast  for  Harrison.  The  abolition  party 
at  this  election  showed  its  front  for  the  first 
time,  James  G.  Birney,  its  candidate  for  the 
Presidency,  receiving  seven  thousand  and  sixty- 
nine  popular  votes, — a  cloud  no  larger  than  a 
hand,  but  pregnant  with  coming  storm. 


355 


CHAPTER    XIV 

THE    WHIGS'    BARREN    TRIUMPH 

A  GREAT  multitude  witnessed  the  inaug-u- 
ration  of  Harrison  on  March  4,  1841. 
The  enthusiasm  of  the  campaign  which  had 
elected  him  had  not  subsided,  and  gave  life  and 
color  to  the  incoming  of  the  first  Whig  President. 
Log  cabins  were  brought  to  the  capital  for  the 
occasion,  and  many  campaign  clubs  came  with 
regalia  and  banners.  The  Whigs  of  Baltimore 
had  provided  a  magnificent  carriage  especially 
for  the  President-elect's  ride  to  the  Capitol ;  but 
he  declined  to  use  it,  and  rode  a  spirited  white 
horse  instead.  Major  Hurst,  who  had  been 
his  aide  at  the  battle  of  the  Thames,  rode  at 
his  right  and  slightly  in  his  rear,  while  Colonel 
Todd,  another  aide  at  the  same  battle,  occupied 
a  like  position  at  his  left. 

John  Ouincy  Adams  describes  the  procession 
which  followed  as  a  mixed  military  and  civil 
cavalcade,  with  platoons  of  militia  companies, 
Tippecanoe  clubs,  students  of  colleges,  school- 
boys, and  a  handful  of  veterans  who  had  fought 
.is6 


The  Whigs'  Barren   Triumph 

under  Harrison  in  the  second  war  with  Eng- 
land. It  was  a  raw  Alarch  day,  with  a  chill 
wind  blowing,  and  Harrison  stood  for  an  hour 
exposed  to  this  while  delivering  his  inaugural 
address  from  the  east  portico  of  the  Capitol. 
He  again  mounted  his  horse  at  its  close,  and 
the  procession,  forming  anew,  marched  to  the 
White  House,  loudly  cheered  as  it  passed  by 
the  waiting  crowd.  The  President  on  entering 
the  White  House  took  his  station  in  the  recep- 
tion-room. The  masses  entered  the  front  portal, 
passed  through  the  vestibule  into  the  reception- 
room,  shook  hands  with  the  new  chief  magis- 
trate, then  passed  down  the  rear  steps  and  out 
through  the  garden.  There  were  three  inaugu- 
ration balls  at  night,  the  prices  of  admission  to 
them  suiting  different  pockets.  At  one,  where 
the  tickets  were  ten  dollars  for  gentlemen, 
women  being  invited  guests,  there  was  a  repre- 
sentation from  almost  every  State  in  the  Union. 
Harrison,  despite  the  fatigues  of  the  day,  at- 
tended all  three  balls,  but  danced  only  at  the 
official  one. 

The  new  President,  a  plain,  unassuming  man 
of  sixty-eight,   was  a  native  of  Virginia,   and 
the  son  of  one  of  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
357 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

of  Independence.  Appointed  an  ensign  in  the 
army  by  Washington,  he  served  with  gallantry 
in  Wayne's  campaign  against  the  Indians,  re- 
tiring in  1797,  with  the  rank  of  captain,  to 
become  secretary  of  the  Northwest  Territory. 
He  was  made  a  delegate  in  Congress  a  year  later, 
but  soon  afterwards  was  appointed  governor 
of  the  newly  constituted  Territory  of  Indiana, 
which  place  he  filled  for  many  years.  He  com- 
manded at  Tippecanoe,  and  in  the  Indian  war 
with  Tecumseh  in  18 12,  as  chief  of  the  North- 
western army,  fought  and  won  the  battle  of 
the  Thames.  He  served  subsequently  as  a  Rep- 
resentative and  Senator  in  Congress  and  as  min- 
ister to  Colombia,  being  removed  by  Jackson 
from  the  post  last  named  because  he  defended 
Clay  against  charges  of  bargain  and  corrup- 
tion. He  then  retired  to  his  farm  at  North 
Bend,  and  during  the  next  twelve  years  held 
no  public  office  save  that  of  clerk  of  a  local 
court  in  Ohio. 

Such  was  Harrison's  career  up  to  the  time 
he  became  a  successful  candidate  for  the  Presi- 
dency. Though  its  military  passages  explain 
a  part  of  the  enthusiasm  which  attended  his 
canvass,  he  entered  office  to  face  difficulties  of 
358 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

a  most  serious  and  embarrassing  nature.  Clay 
remained  the  real  head  of  the  Whig  party,  and 
he  was  not  slow  in  impressing  the  importance 
of  this  fact  upon  the  new  President.  It  was 
Harrison's  wish  to  make  John  Sargent  Secre- 
tary of  State,  John  Davis  Secretary  of  the  Treas- 
ury, and  Thomas  Butler  King,  of  Georgia,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy;  but  he  was  overruled  by 
Clay,  and  the  Cabinet  as  finally  constructed  was 
made  up  chiefly  from  Clay's  stanchest  friends, 
— John  J.  Crittenden,  his  colleague  in  the  Sen- 
ate, being  named  Attorney-General;  Thomas 
Ewing,  Secretary  of  the  Treasury;  John  Bell, 
Secretary  of  War ;  and  George  E.  Badger,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Navy.  The  post  of  Secretary  of 
State,  declined  by  Clay,  was,  at  his  suggestion, 
given  to  Webster,  while  the  latter's  friend, 
Francis  Granger,  who  had  been  the  Whig  can- 
didate for  Vice-President  in  1836,  was  ap- 
pointed Postmaster-General.  All  the  members 
of  the  new  Cabinet,  an  exceptionally  strong  one, 
were  well  known  in  public  life  save  Badger, 
who  came  for  the  first  time  into  national  knowl- 
edge from  North  Carolina,  where  he  had  been 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court. 

The  new  Administration  was  no  sooner  in- 
359 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

stalled  than  the  pressure  for  office  began.  Wash- 
ington was  overrun  with  place-hunters,  and 
every  one  supposed  to  have  influence  was  del- 
uged with  applications.  Harrison,  as  a  rule, 
acquiesced  without  remonstrance  in  the  sug- 
gestions as  to  appointments  made  by  the  mem- 
bers of  his  Cabinet.  On  one  occasion,  however, 
he  asserted  the  authority  of  his  office  with  a 
promptness  and  energy  that  astonished  his  ad- 
visers. Colonel  John  Chambers,  of  Kentucky, 
a  former  comrade  in  arms  of  the  President, 
had  accompanied  the  latter  to  Washington,  with 
the  understanding  that  any  suitable  request  for 
office  would  be  granted  him.  Chambers,  with- 
out delay,  asked  for  the  office  of  governor  of 
Iowa  Territory,  and  the  place  was  assured  him. 
Webster,  meanwhile,  had  pledged  the  office  to 
a  New  Hampshire  friend,  and  at  a  Cabinet 
meeting  informed  the  President  of  this  fact, 
adding  that  his  promise  had  been  confirmed  by 
his  associates.  "  Ah !  that  is  the  decision,  is 
it?"  asked  Harrison.  The  several  gentlemen 
of  the  Cabinet  nodded  their  heads.  The  Presi- 
dent without  further  remark  wrote  a  few  words 
upon  a  slip  of  paper  and  handed  it  to  W^ebster, 
requesting  him  to  read  it  aloud.  The  Secretary 
360 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

of  State  flushed  deeply,  and  then  read  in  an 
audible  voice,  "  William  Henry  Harrison,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States."  There  was  a  sec- 
ond's silence,  quickly  broken  by  the  President, 
who  said,  "  And  William  Henry  Harrison  tells 
you,  gentlemen,  that,  by  God,  John  Chambers 
shall  be  governor  of  Iowa."  Chambers,  before 
the  day  was  ended,  received  his  commission. 

Webster  was  not  the  only  Whig  leader  to 
meet  with  rebuke  from  the  President  in  the 
urgent  quest  for  place.  Clay's  peremptoriness 
in  certain  matters  prior  to  the  inauguration  had 
wrung  from  Harrison  the  remark,  "  You  for- 
get, Mr.  Clay,  that  I  am  the  President;"  and 
when  after  Harrison  took  office  Clay  insisted 
in  an  arbitrary  way  upon  some  removals,  in 
order  that  friends  of  his  might  be  appointed 
to  the  places  thus  vacated,  the  President,  in  a 
politely  worded  note,  informed  Clay  that  in  the 
future  he  had  best  communicate  in  writing  the 
suggestions  that  he  desired  to  offer,  instead  of 
calling  personally  at  the  White  House.  A  friend, 
waiting  upon  Clay,  found  him  angrily  pacing 
the  room  with  the  President's  message  crumpled 
in  his  hand.  "  And  it  has  come  to  this !"  he 
said.  "  I  am  civi'lly  but  virtually  requested  not 
361 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

to  visit  the  White  House. — not  to  see  the  Presi- 
dent personally,  but  hereafter  only  communicate 
with  him  in  writing.  Here  is  my  table  loaded 
with  letters  from  my  friends  in  every  part  of 
the  Union  asking  for  oflfice,  when  I  have  not  one 
to  give,  nor  influence  enough  to  secure  the  ap- 
pointment of  a  friend  to  the  most  humble  posi- 
tion." 

Clay's  strained  relations  with  Harrison  no 
doubt  would  have  ended  in  complete  estrange- 
ment had  the  President  lived,  but  in  a  day  or 
two  the  Whig  chieftain  left  for  home,  and  when 
he  came  again  to  Washington  the  Presidency 
had  passed  into  other  hands.  Harrison,  at  the 
time  of  his  election,  was  far  advanced  in  years 
and  in  feeble  health.  His  strength  soon  failed 
him  under  the  heavy  and  unfamiliar  burdens 
placed  upon  it,  and  late  in  March,  1841,  he  took 
to  his  bed,  never  to  leave  it.  Pneumonia,  fol- 
lowing a  heavy  cold,  had  seized  him,  and  the 
progress  of  the  disease  was  so  rapid  that  his 
wife,  who  had  remained  at  North  Bend  on  ac- 
count of  illness,  was  unable  to  reach  his  death- 
bed. Towards  the  end  his  mind  wandered. 
"  My  dear  madam,"  he  would  say,  ''  I  did  not 
direct  that  your  husband  should  be  turned 
362 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

out.  I  did  not  know  it.  I  tried  to  prevent 
it."  i\nd  again  he  would  exclaim  in  broken 
sentences,  "  It  is  wrong — I  won't  consent — it 
is  unjust.  These  applications, — will  they  never 
cease?"  When  he  spoke  for  the  last  time,  it 
was  as  if  he  fancied  himself  addressing  his  suc- 
cessor, or  some  associate  in  the  Administration. 
"  Sir !"  he  muttered,  "  I  wish  you  to  under- 
stand the  true  principles  of  the  government. 
I  wish  them  carried  out.  I  ask  nothing  more." 
On  Sunday  morning,  April  4,  Harrison  ceased 
to  live.  His  sudden  passing  was  a  profound 
shock  to  the  country,  the  more  so  that  a  chief 
magistrate  had  never  before  died  in  office.  The 
funeral  services  were  held  in  the  East  Room 
of  the  White  House.  Around  the  coffin,  which 
rested  on  a  temporary  catafalque  in  the  centre 
of  the  apartment,  stood  in  a  circle  the  new 
President,  ex-President  Adams,  Secretary  Web- 
ster, and  the  other  members  of  the  Cabinet. 
The  second  circle  contained  the  diplomatic  corps, 
members  of  both  houses  of  Congress,  and  the 
relatives  of  the  dead  President.  Beyond  this 
circle  a  numerous  and  distinguished  assemblage 
filled  the  room.  At  the  appointed  hour  the 
burial  service  of  the  Episcopal  Church  was  read 
363 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

by  the  officiating  clergyman,  and  then  the  l)ody, 
attended  by  an  imposing  cavalcade,  was  borne 
to  the  grave.  It  was  first  interred  in  the  Con- 
gressional Cemetery,  but  a  few  years  later,  at 
the  request  of  the  Harrison  family,  it  was  re- 
moved to  North  Bend,  where  it  now  rests  in 
a  tomb  overlooking  the  Ohio  River. 

Harrison's  death  had  for  his  party  a  bitter 
and  unexpected  sequel.  Thurlow  Weed,  before 
the  meeting  of  the  Whig  convention,  in  1839, 
urged  Webster  to  take  the  post  of  Vice-Presi- 
dent on  the  ticket  with  Harrison,  but  the  sug- 
gestion was  rejected  with  scorn.  An  acceptance 
of  Weed's  advice  would  have  made  Webster 
President  in  little  more  than  a  year.  Clay's 
friends,  after  Harrison  had  been  nominated, 
were  urged  to  name  the  candidate  for  Vice- 
President.  They  first  offered  the  nomination 
to  Watkins  Leigh,  of  Virginia,  who  soon  would 
have  stood  in  Harrison's  place  had  he  not  de- 
clined it.  The  nomination  was  then  offered  to 
Nathaniel  P.  Tallmadge,  of  New  York.  Had 
he  not  put  it  aside,  New  York  would  have  fur- 
nished three  Presidents  from  the  Vice-Presi- 
dent's chair  instead  of  two.  Next  Samuel 
Southard,  of  New  Jersey,  had  the  offer  of  the 
364 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

nomination.  He,  too,  declined.  Henry  A.  Wise 
at  last  put  forward  the  claims  of  John  Tyler. 
The  latter's  pro-slavery  principles  seemed  to 
promise  needed  strength  to  the  ticket,  and  he 
was  accordingly  nominated  for  Vice-President. 
And  so,  through  a  singular  chain  of  circum- 
stances, ending  with  the  death  of  Harrison, 
John  Tyler  became  President  of  the  United 
States. 

The  new  chief  magistrate  was  of  an  old  and 
distinguished  Virginian  family  and  had  been 
long  in  public  life.  He  had  served  five  years 
in  the  House,  had  been  governor  of  his  State 
for  a  single  term,  and  from  1827  to  1836  had 
held  a  seat  in  the  Senate.  He  had  opposed  in 
l)oth  branches  of  Congress  internal  improve- 
ments, a  protective  tariff,  and  the  chartering  of  a 
national  bank.  He  had  disapproved,  how^ever, 
the  removal  of  the  deposits  by  Jackson,  had 
voted  for  Clay's  resolution  of  censure,  and  had 
finally  resigned  his  seat  because  of  his  refusal  to 
obey  the  instructions  of  the  Virginia  Legislature 
to  vote  for  Benton's  expunging  resolution. 
These  salient  facts  in  his  career,  along  with  his 
rigid  advocacy  of  States'-rights  and  strict  con- 
struction, proved  that  his  only  pretension  to  be 
365 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

a  Whig  lay  in  his  having  acted  with  the  Whigs 
in  the  Senate  in  opposition  to  Jackson. 

Tyler's  sudden  accession  was,  thus,  accepted 
by  the  Whig  leaders  as  a  serious  menace  to  the 
fulfilment  of  their  programme,  prominent  in 
which  were  the  chartering  of  a  national  bank 
and  the  adoption  of  an  extensive  system  of 
internal  improvements.  The  actions  of  the  new 
President,  however,  gave  at  the  outset  no  spe- 
cific grounds  for  alarm.  Hastening  from  his 
home  in  Virginia,  and  reaching  Washington  in 
time  to  attend  the  funeral  of  Harrison,  he 
promptly  announced  his  cordial  retention  of  his 
predecessor's  Cabinet,  and  a  few  days  after  he 
took  the  oath  of  office  issued  an  address  to  the 
people  in  which  he  referred  to  the  late  Admin- 
istration in  terms  severe  enough  to  warrant  the 
belief  that  he  was  prepared  to  go  as  far  as  any 
one  in  reversing  the  Democratic  policy.  Clay, 
however,  was  not  wholly  reassured  by  the  prom- 
ising sound  of  this  address.  "  I  repair  to  my 
post  in  the  Senate,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend,  "  with 
strong  hopes,  not,  however,  unmixed  with  fears. 
If  the  Executive  will  cordially  co-operate  •  in 
carrying  out  the  Whig  measures,  all  will  be 
well.  Otherwise,  everything  is  at  hazard." 
366 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

It  was  to  be  otherwise.  Congress,  pursuant 
to  a  call  issued  by  Harrison  before  his  death, 
convened  in  extra  session  on  May  3 1 ,  the  House 
organizing  by  the  election  of  John  White,  of 
Kentucky,  as  Speaker.  The  Whigs  counted  a 
safe  majority  in  both  branches,  and  Clay  lost 
no  time  in  presenting  his  programme  for  legis- 
lative action.  An  act  repealing  Van  Buren's 
subtreasury  system  was  passed  without  delay 
by  the  House  and  Senate  and  signed  by  the 
President.  Another  great  Whig  measure — a 
bill  for  the  distribution  of  the  proceeds  of  the 
sales  of  the  public  lands  among  the  States — 
was  promptly  enacted  and  as  promptly  received 
the  approval  of  the  President.  After  that  a 
bankrupt  act  was  passed  by  Congress  and  signed 
by  Tyler. 

But  here  Clay's  hoped-for  co-operation  be- 
tween Congress  and  the  Executive  came  to  an 
end.  A  bill  incorporating  a  national  bank, 
framed  by  Clay,  was  passed  by  the  Senate  on 
July  28,  and  by  the  House,  without  amendment, 
on  August  6.  It  then  went  to  the  President, 
who  ten  days  later  returned  it  with  his  veto. 
An  attempt  to  pass  the  bill  over  the  veto  failed 
of  the  required  two-thirds  majority.  Great  was 
367 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

the  chagrin  of  the  Whig  leaders  at  this  un- 
expected check  to  their  plans,  but,  after  the 
first  shock  of  surprise  had  passed,  they  resolved 
upon  another  effort  to  effect  their  purpose.  A 
second  bill,  framed  upon  lines  somewhat  differ- 
ent from  the  first,  was  duly  passed  by  the  House 
and  Senate  and,  on  September  4,  sent  to  the 
President.  The  latter,  at  the  end  of  five  days, 
returned  it  with  a  second  veto  message. 

The  rage  and  discomfiture  of  the  Whigs  was 
now  complete.  \A'ar  without  quarter  was  in- 
stanth^  declared  upon  Tyler,  and,  on  September 
II,  the  members  of  his  Cabinet,  with  a  single 
exception,  tendered  their  resignations.  Web- 
ster, however,  shrewdly  refusing  to  join  in  a 
manoeuvre  of  which  the  whole  profit  would  be 
reaped  by  Clay,  remained  at  his  post,  while  the 
vacancies  created  by  the  retirement  of  his  for- 
mer associates  were  at  once  filled  by  the  ap- 
pointment of  W^alter  Forward,  of  Pennsylvania, 
whom  Harrison  had  made  comptroller,  as  Sec- 
retary of  the  Treasury;  of  John  McLean,  of 
Ohio,  as  Secretary  of  War ;  of  Abel  P.  Upshur, 
of  Virginia,  as  Secretary  of  the  Xavy;  of 
Hugh  S.  Legare,  of  South  Carolina,  as  Attor- 
nev-General ;    and  of  Charles  A.  A\'icklifife,  of 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

Kentucky,  as  Postmaster-General.  These  ap- 
pointments were  duly  confirmed,  as  was  also 
tb.at  of  John  C.  Spencer,  of  New  York,  who, 
Justice  McLean  having  declined  the  portfolio 
of  War,  was  named  in  the  latter's  stead.  The 
members  of  the  new  Cabinet  were  all  men  of 
superior  quality,  though  Secretary  Upshur  had 
up  to  that  time  been  little  known  outside  of 
his  own  State. 

The  leading  Whig  members  of  Congress, 
meanwhile,  had  issued  an  address  to  the  people 
in  which  they  loudly  condemned  the  conduct 
of  the  President,  and  when  Congress  convened 
in  regular  session  in  December  renewed  the 
fight  upon  him.  This  time  it  was  not  a  national 
bank,  which,  to  quote  Webster's  terse  phrase, 
had  now  become  "  an  obsolete  idea,''  but  the 
tariff  which  formed  the  subject  of  contention. 
Diminished  importations,  due  to  the  great  pros- 
tration of  business,  had  reduced  the  revenue 
until  it  was  insufficient  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  government.  The  Wliigs  accordingly 
carried  through  Congress  a  bill  continuing  the 
protective  duties  of  1833,  and  providing  that 
the  surplus  revenue  sure  to  accumulate  should 

be  distributed  among  the  States. 
I. -24  369 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

The  compromise  of  1833,  in  which  Tyler 
had  played  an  important  part,  provided,  how- 
ever, that  the  protective  policy  should  come 
to  an  end  in  1842.  Both  on  this  account,  and 
because  of  its  provisions  for  distributing  the 
surplus,  the  President  vetoed  the  bill.  Con- 
gress then  framed  and  passed  another  bill,  pro- 
viding for  a  tariff  for  revenue,  with  incidental 
protection,  but  still  contemplating  a  distribution 
of  the  surplus,  if  there  should  be  any.  This 
bill  was  also  vetoed  by  the  President.  Con- 
gress received  the  veto  message  with  great  in- 
dignation, and  the  House  committee  to  which 
it  was  referred  submitted  a  report  which  con- 
demned it  as  an  unwarranted  assumption  of 
power.  The  House's  action  voiced  the  cry  of 
the  vanquished :  events  quickly  proved  that 
Tyler  was  already  victor  in  his  bitter  contest 
with  the  party  that  had  placed  him  in  office. 
The  WHiigs,  unwilling  to  go  before  the  country 
in  the  fall  elections  wnth  the  tariff  question 
unsettled,  re-enacted  the  vetoed  bill  shorn  of 
the  distributing  clause,  and  it  was  at  once 
signed  by  the  President,  whose  "  pocket  veto" 
effectively  and  finally  disposed  of  the  distribu- 
tion scheme  when  it  was  subsequently  passed 
370 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

as  a  separate  bill.  Congress  adjourned  on  the 
last  day  of  August,  1842,  and  in  the  ensuing 
elections  the  Whig  majority  of  twenty-five  in 
the  House  gave  place  to  a  Democratic  majority 
of  sixty-one. 

Some  of  the  men  who  played  leading  parts 
in  the  events  just  chronicled  were  new-comers 
in  Congress  or  had  lately  returned  to  it  after 
long  absence.  Levi  Woodbury  was  again  a 
member  of  the  Senate  from  New  Hampshire, 
and  Rufus  Choate  had  taken  the  seat  left  va- 
cant by  Webster.  William  L.  Dayton,  soon 
to  become  one  of  the  leaders  of  the  free-soil 
element  in  the  Whig  party,  was  a  Senator  from 
New  Jersey,  and  Virginia  was  represented  by 
William  S.  Archer.  South  Carolina  had  re- 
I)laced  William  C.  Preston  with  George  Mc- 
Duffie,  while  the  seat  of  Felix  Grundy,  of  Ten- 
nessee, was  now  filled  by  Alfred  B.  Nicholson. 
Other  new  Senators  were  James  T.  Morehead, 
of  Kentucky,  whose  nervous  eloquence  often 
reminded  his  hearers  of  his  friend  and  chief- 
tain, Clay;  William  Woodbridge,  of  Michigan, 
a  man  of  clear  vision  and  marked  tenacity  of 
purpose ;  and  James  F.  Simmons,  of  Rhode 
Island,  who  had  been  a  farmer  and  banker  be- 
371 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

fore  he  entered  the  Senate,  and  who  combined 
soHd  judgment  with  an  unrivalled  knowledge 
of  the  industrial  condition  and  resources  of  the 
country. 

Charles  Jared  Ingersoll,  caustic  and  self-confi- 
dent as  of  old,  was  again  a  member  of  the  House 
from  Pennsylvania,  and  conspicuous  among  the 
new-comers  in  that  body  were  Robert  C.  Win- 
throp,  of  Massachusetts,  afterwards  Speaker 
and  Senator  and  a  fine  example  of  the  scholar 
in  politics;  John  Young  and  Fernando  Wood, 
of  New  York;  Richard  W.  Thompson  and 
David  Wallace,  of  Indiana,  both  Whig  orators 
of  repute;  Colonel  Henry  Dodge,  of  Wiscon- 
sin, the  hero  of  the  Black  Hawk  War,  and  his 
son,  Augustus,  of  Iowa,  both  a  little  later  pro- 
moted by  their  States  to  seats  in  the  Senate; 
Alexander  H.  H.  Stuart,  of  Virginia,  subse- 
quently Secretary  of  the  Interior  in  Fillmore's 
Cabinet ;  and  David  L.  Yulee,  of  Florida,  soon 
to  win  and  hold  to  the  end  a  prominent  place 
among  the  champions  of  slavery  and  secession. 

Thomas  F.   Marshall,  of  Kentucky,  nephew 

of  the  chief  justice,  was  also  a  member  of  the 

Thirty-seventh  Congress.      This  unusual  man, 

who  afterwards  became,  through  drink,  a  men- 

.372 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

tal  and  physical  wreck,  was  at  that  time  in  his 
prime, — an  entertaining  and  original  speaker 
and  a  master  of  satire  and  invective.  No  new 
member  ever  came  more  quickly  into  promi- 
nence on  the  floor  of  the  House, — a  fact  due 
in  a  measure  to  his  unsuccessful  effort  to  secure 
the  passage  of  a  resolution  of  censure  against 
John  Quincy  Adams.  The  latter  offering,  on 
a  January  morning  in  1842,  his  customary 
daily  budget  of  petitions,  presented  one  from 
Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  praying  for  a  disso- 
lution of  the  Union,  which  he  moved  to  refer 
to  a  select  committee  with  instructions  to  report 
adversely  to  the  prayer  of  the  petition.  This 
raised  a  tempest  in  the  House,  and  called  from 
Marshall  a  series  of  resolutions  deploring  the 
obnoxious  petition  and  censuring  Adams  for 
having  presented  it.  There  followed  an  ex- 
cited and  acrimonious  debate  which  lasted  sev- 
eral days.  The  principal  figure  in  the  singular 
scene,  we  are  told  by  one  who  witnessed  it, 
"  was  the  venerable  object  of  the  censure,  then 
nearly  fourscore  years  of  age,  his  limbs  trem- 
bling with  palsy,  his  bald  head  crimson  with 
excitement,  and  tears  dropping  from  his  eyes, 
as  he  for  four  days  stood  defying  the  storm 

373 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

and  hurling  back  defiantly  the  opprobrium  with 
which  his  adversaries  sought  to  stigmatize 
him." 

Marshall  and  Henry  A.  Wise  led  in  the  at- 
tack upon  Adams,  but  he  was  more  than  equal 
to  their  assaults.  "  Four  or  five  years  ago," 
said  he  in  his  closing  address,  "  there  came  to 
this  House  a  man  with  his  hands  and  face  drip- 
ping with  the  blood  of  murder,  the  blotches  of 
which  are  yet  hanging  upon  him,  and  when  it 
was  proposed  that  he  should  be  tried  by  the 
House  for  that  crime,  I  opposed  it."  After 
this  dramatic  allusion  to  the  killing  of  Cilley, 
Adams  proceeded  to  castigate  Wise  without 
mercy.  Then  turning  his  attention  to  Mar- 
shall, he  alluded  in  cutting  fashion  to  the  friendly 
relations  that  had  existed  between  the  gentle- 
man's uncle,  the  chief  justice,  and  his  own 
father,  John  Adams.  The  slave-power,  he  said, 
was  now  his  judge,  and  slave-holders  were  to 
sit  as  jurors.  They  proposed  to  treat  him  with 
mercy.  He  disdained  and  rejected  their  mercy, 
and  he  defied  them.  Let  them  expel  him  if  they 
dared. — he  had  constituents  to  go  to,  and  they 
would  soon  return  him  to  his  seat. 

When  Adams  had  finished.  Representatives 
374 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

from  the  tree  States  crowded  around  him  to 
offer  their  congratulations,  and  a  resolution  of- 
fered by  Millard  Fillmore  to  lay  the  whole 
subject  on  the  table  was  passed  by  an  over- 
whelming vote.  Marshall,  later  in  the  same 
session,  was  urged  by  some  of  the  Southern 
members  to  renew  the  fight,  but  refused  to 
do  so.  "  I  have  been  gored  once  by  the  old 
bull,"  said  he,  "  and  have  had  enough  of  him. 
If  there  is  to  be  any  more  of  this  kind  of  work, 
it  must  be  undertaken  by  somebody  else.  The 
old  man  is  a  match  for  a  score  of  such  fellows 
as  you  and  I." 

A  few  weeks  after  Adams's  signal  triumph 
over  his  enemies,  a  scene  more  pacific  but  not 
less  interesting  was  enacted  at  the  other  end  of 
the  Capitol.  Clay,  when  he  found  it  impossible 
to  save  the  measures  of  the  Whig  party  from 
the  opposition  of  Tyler,  resigned  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  in  order  to  promote  his  canvass  for  the 
Presidency  in  1844,  and  Kentucky  sent  John 
J.  Crittenden  to  succeed  him.  It  was  known 
that  in  presenting  his  successor's  credentials, 
on  March  31,  1842,  Clay  would  deliver  a  fare- 
well address,  and  accordingly  the  Senate  cham- 
ber and  galleries  were,  at  an  early  hour,  filled 
375 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

to  their  limits.  Clay  arose  at  one  o'clock,  and, 
after  a  moment's  silence,  said  he  was  ahout  to 
present  the  last  motion  he  should  ever  make  to 
the  Senate.  He  first  wished,  however,  to  make 
a  few  observations  suggested  to  his  mind  by 
the  occasion.  Then,  in  a  voice  that  bespoke 
deep  emotion,  he  referred  to  the  long  period  that 
he  had  been  in  public  life,  and  made  modest 
allusion  to  his  services.  Such  as  they  were,  it 
was  not  for  him  to  speak  of  them.  He  left 
them  to  be  judged  by  those  who  should  come 
after  him.  But  of  his  private  motives  he  had 
a  right  to  speak.  Whatever  he  had  done  had 
been  done  with  a  single  eye  and  a  single  heart 
to  the  good  of  his  country. 

Clay  next  alluded  with  feeling  and  dignity 
to  the  misrepresentation  and  calumny  of  which 
he  had  long  been  the  victim,  but  which  he 
had  borne  with  unshaken  confidence  that  his 
fellow-citizens  would  eventually  do  him  justice. 
Still,  if  he  had  malignant  enemies,  he  had  also 
warm  and  devoted  friends  in  every  part  of  the 
land,  and  in  tones  of  exquisite  tenderness  he 
proceeded  to  pay  loving  tribute  to  his  adopted 
State.  He  told  how,  five-and-forty  years  be- 
fore, he  had  emigrated  to  Kentucky  a  poor  and 
376 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

friendless  orphan ;  of  how  she  had  at  once 
embraced  and  caressed  him  hke  a  native  child ; 
and  of  how  from  that  day  to  this  her  choicest 
honors  had  been  showered  upon  him.  "  It  is 
to  me  an  unspeakable  pleasure,"  said  he,  "  that 
I  shall  finally  deposit — and  it  will  not  be  long 
before  that  time  arrives — my  last  remains  un- 
der her  generous  soil  with  those  of  her  gallant 
and  patriotic  sons  who  have  preceded  me." 

There  followed  a  moving  plea  for  the  for- 
giveness of  those  whose  feelings  he  had  injured 
in  the  heat  of  debate,  during  which  the  mem- 
bers sat  with  bowed  heads,  their  eyes  suffused 
with  tears.  "  May  the  blessing  of  heaven  rest 
upon  the  whole  Senate  and  each  member  of 
it,"  said  the  speaker  in  reverent  conclusion, 
"  and  may  the  labors  of  every  one  redound  to 
the  benefit  of  the  nation  and  the  advancement 
of  his  own  fame  and  renown.  And  when  you 
shall  retire  to  the  bosom  of  your  constituents 
may  you  meet  with  that  most  cheering  and  grati- 
fying of  all  human  rewards, — their  cordial 
'  Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant.'  And 
now.  Messrs.  President  and  Senators,  I  bid 
you  a  long,  a  last,  and  friendly  farewell." 

Clay's  remarks  ended  and  his  successor  sworn 
377 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

in,  there  was  a  solemn  silence,  broken  finally 
by  Senator  Preston,  of  South  Carolina.  "  What 
has  just  taken  place,"  said  the  latter,  rising 
in  his  place,  "  is  an  epoch  in  legislative  history, 
and  from  the  feelings  evidenced  I  plainly  see 
that  there  is  little  disposition  to  attend  to  busi- 
ness; I,  therefore,  move  that  the  Senate  be 
adjourned."  The  motion  was  unanimously 
agreed  to,  and  the  members  of  the  Senate,  gath- 
ering about  Clay,  took  individual  leave  of  him. 
As  Clay  made  ready  to  leave  the  chamber  he 
encountered  Calhoun.  The  only  words  that 
had  passed  between  them  for  years  had  been 
those  harshly  spoken  in  debate.  But  now,  as 
they  met,  the  old  time  overcame  them,  and  in- 
tervening differences  were  forgotten.  Tears 
filled  their  eyes.  They  shook  each  other  cor- 
dially by  the  hand,  interchanged  a  fervent  "  God 
bless  you,"  and  parted. 

A  little  more  than  a  year  later  Webster  fol- 
lowed his  great  compeer  into  private  life.  One 
reason  wdiy  Webster  had  remained  in  Tyler's 
Cabinet  after  the  resignation  of  his  associates 
was  that  he  might  complete  a  pending  treaty 
with  Great  Britain.  When  he  took  the  port- 
folio of  state  there  had  existed  a  complication 
37S 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

of  difficulties  with  that  country  that  seemed  to 
be  bringing'  us  to  the  verge  of  war.  Webster, 
in  disentanghng  these  difficuUies,  showed  signal 
tact  and  discretion.  He  was  also  aided  by  a 
timely  change  of  ministry  in  England,  which 
replaced  Palmerston  with  Aberdeen.  Edward 
Everett,  being  then  in  London,  Webster  secured 
his  appointment  as  minister  to  Great  Britain. 
In  response  to  this  appointment  Lord  Ashbur- 
ton,  the  son  of  an  American  mother  and  whose 
friendly  feeling  towards  the  United  States  was 
well  known,  was  sent  over  on  a  special  mission 
to  confer  with  Webster.  The  result  of  their 
negotiations  was  the  Treaty  of  Washington, 
signed  in  August,  1842,  and  afterwards  rati- 
fied by  the  Senate.  This  treaty  settled  a  long- 
standing dispute  about  our  northeastern  boun- 
dary and  overthrew  the  British  claim  to  exercise 
the  right  of  search.  Its  successful  negotiation 
in  the  face  of  an  unfriendly  Senate  and  a  hos- 
tile House  was  justly  regarded  by  Webster  as 
one  of  the  greatest  achievements  of  his  life,  and, 
indeed,  gave  conclusive  proof  of  his  brilliant 
and  solid  powers  as  a  diplomatist. 

There  were,  however,  two  mooted  questions 
that  the  treaty  did  not  settle :    these  were  the 

379 


Washington  :    The   Capital  City 

Oregon  boundary  and  the  dispute  over  the  fish- 
eries on  the  north  Atlantic  coast.  A  striking 
yet  httle  remembered  incident  explains  this  fail- 
ure. Dr.  Marcus  Whitman,  an  American  mis- 
sionary of  patriotic  impulses  and  heroic  mould, 
had  lived  for  several  years  in  the  fertile  valley 
of  the  Columbia.  Convinced  that  it  was  the 
purpose  of  the  British  to  deter  American  coloni- 
zation of  the  valley  by  spreading  reports  of 
its  inaccessibility,  and  at  the  same  time  to  fill 
it  with  English  emigrants,  he  resolved  to  visit 
Washington  and  lay  the  matter  before  the  gov- 
ernment. The  rejoicing  at  the  English  fort 
at  Walla  Walla  in  the  fall  of  1842  over  the 
approach  of  a  large  party  of  colonists,  and  the 
knowledge  that  the  Webster-Ashburton  treaty 
was  then  under  consideration,  impelled  him  to 
lose  no  time,  and  within  twenty-four  hours  he 
set  out  for  the  East  on  horseback. 

With  Dr.  WHiitman  were  one  companion  and 
a  guide.  The  3d  day  of  January,  1843,  the 
snow,  perils,  and  hardships  of  the  mountains 
behind  them,  they  reached  Bent's  Fort  on  the 
Arkansas  River.  Whitman's  hands  and  face 
v/ere  frozen,  but  an  open  trail  now  lay  before 
him  to  the  East,  and  three  months  later  to  a 
380 


The  Whigs'  Barren  Triumph 

day  he  dropped  among  the  poHticians  of  Wash- 
ington hke  a  bolt  from  the  blue.  A  downright 
frontiersman,  in  his  dress  of  skins,  he  won  the 
heart  of  Tyler;  and  his  arguments  as  to  the 
value  and  accessibility  of  the  valley  of  the 
Columbia  silenced  the  objections  of  Webster, 
who  was  planning  to  surrender  Oregon  in  ex- 
change for  the  right  to  use  the  British  cod- 
fisheries.  Instead,  it  was  retained,  while  the 
settlement  of  the  fisheries  question  was  left  to 
a  succeeding  generation.  Whitman's  well-timed 
visit  to  the  capital  had  saved  to  the  Union  the 
Washington,  Oregon,  and  Idaho  of  to-day,  a 
territory  larger  than  the  New  England  and 
Middle  States,  which  stand  a  monument  to  his 
sagacity. 

Webster's  continuance  in  Tyler's  Cabinet  had 
angered  and  alienated  many  of  his  Whig  asso- 
ciates, but  his  patriotism  dwarfed'  personal  con- 
siderations, and  he  refused  to  leave  his  post 
until  he  knew  the  Treaty  of  Washington  to  be 
quite  safe.  That  assured,  in  ]\Iay,  1843.  ^^^ 
resigned  his  Secretaryship  and  retired  to  Bos- 
ton. He  continued,  however,  to  pass  his  win- 
ters in  Washington,  being  frequently  heard  in 
argument  before  the  Supreme  Court.  The  most 
381 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

important  case  in  which  he  appeared  as  chief 
counsel  at  this  period  was  the  action  brought 
by  the  heirs  of  Stephen  Girard  to  recover  his 
bequest  for  the  estabhshment  and  maintenance 
of  a  college.  Webster  took  the  broad  ground 
that  the  plan  of  education  at  the  Girard  College 
was  derogatory  to  the  Christian  religion,  con- 
trary to  sound  morals,  and  subversive  of  law. 
He  spoke  for  three  days  with  eloquence  and 
power,  the  court-room  the  whole  time  being 
densely  crowded,  but  he  could  not  answer  the 
arguments  of  Horace  Binney  and  John  Sargent, 
the  ablest  lawyers  of  Philadelphia,  who  defended 
the  bequest  and  gained  the  suit. 


382 


CHAPTER    XV 

A  PRESIDENT  WITHOUT  A  PARTY 

SCOUTED  by  the  \\niigs.  and  supported  by 
the  Democrats  only  when  his  purposes  ran 
parallel  to  their  own,  Tyler,  during  the  greater 
part  of  his  term,  found  himself,  save  for  a 
small  personal  following  in  Congress,  a  Presi- 
dent without  a  party.  It  was  a  curious  spec- 
tacle, and  one  that  only  once  has  been  repeated. 
vSocial  life  at  Washington,  however,  was  very 
agreealile  during  this  period,  political  differences 
rarely  finding  their  way  into  the  drawing- 
rooms.  The  ceremonious  etiquette  restored  by 
Van  Buren  vanished  from  the  White  House, 
and  the  President,  whose  manners  were  those 
of  the  ancient  Virginia  school,  lived  as  he  had 
on  his  plantation,  attended  by  his  family  slaves. 
Healy,  the  artist,  when  invited  to  reside  at  the 
White  House  while  copying  Stuart's  portrait 
of  \\^ashington  for  Louis  Phillipe  of  France, 
was  forcibly  struck,  so  he  tells  us,  with  the 
absence  of  all  ceremony.  The  first  day  of  his 
sojourn  he  accompanied  the  family  to  the 
383 


Washington :    The  Capital   City 

drawing-room  after  dinner,  and  then  said,  with 
a  profound  bow,  "  IMr.  President,  w^ith  your 
permission  I  will  retire  to  my  work." 

"  ]\Iy  good  fellow,"  replied  Tyler,  "  do  just 
what  you  please." 

Letitia  Christian  Tyler,  wife  of  the  Presi- 
dent, died  in  September,  1842.  She  was  suc- 
ceeded as  mistress  of  the  White  House  by  Mrs. 
Robert  Tyler,  wife  of  the  President's  eldest 
son.  The  younger  Mrs.  Tyler  was  the  daugh- 
ter of  Thomas  Apthorpe  Cooper,  a  popular  tra- 
gedian of  the  period.  An  accomplished  and 
charming  woman,  her  published  letters  show 
that  she  could  be  alike  witty  and  thoughtful 
to  some  purpose.  Her  tactful  reign  as  first 
lady  lasted  a  little  less  than  two  years,  for  in 
June,  1844,  Miss  Julia  Gardiner,  of  New  York, 
became  the  President's  second  wife.  The  lat- 
ter's  tenure  of  the  White  House  was  for  eight 
months  only,  but  during  that  time  she  won 
the  cordial  good-will  of  every  one.  Those  who 
hated  Tyler  and  despised  all  his  works  had 
nothing  but  words  of  praise  for  her. 

Other  members  of  the  Tyler  family  circle 
were  the  President's  son  and  private  secretary, 
John  Tyler,  Jr.,  and  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Letitia 
384 


A   President  without  a   Party 

Tyler  Semple.  The  younger  Tyler  was  a  man 
of  magnificent  presence,  and  for  many  years 
a  distinguished  figure  in  the  social  circles  of 
the  capital.  It  was  his  lot,  however,  to  sur- 
vive most  of  the  friends  of  his  youth  and  to 
pass  his  closing  years  in  poverty  and  obscurity. 
He  died  a  decade  ago  in  Georgetown.  Mrs. 
Semple  had  been  but  a  few  months  wedded  to 
a  paymaster  in  the  navy  when  her  father  be- 
came President,  and  her  youthful  beauty  and 
winsome  bearing  added  not  a  little  to  the  social 
success  of  his  Administration. 

When  Webster  became  Secretary  of  State 
he  installed  himself  in  the  Swann  house,  facing 
the  northwest  corner  of  Lafayette  Square,  and 
lived  th.ere  in  generous  style  during  the  nego- 
tiation of  the  Treaty  of  Washington.  Another 
centre  of  gracious  hospitality  was  the  home  of 
General  Scott,  who  upon  becfMiiing  ci^mmanding 
general  of  the  army,  in  1841,  established  his 
head-quarters  in  Washington.  The  general  had 
married,  when  a  subaltern,  IMiss  Maria  Mayo, 
of  Richmond,  at  that  time  a  reigning  belle  of 
the  Old  Dominion,  and  who  possessed,  like  her 
husband,  a  commanding  presence  and  great  con- 
versational powers.  The  army  had  at  this  time 
I-— 5  385 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

another  picturesque  representative  at  the  capi- 
tal in  General  Edmund  P.  Gaines,  familiarly 
known  as  "  the  hero  of  Fort  Erie."  Tall,  spare, 
and  erect,  with  snow-white  hair  and  sloe-black 
eyes.  General  Gaines  presented  a  striking  con- 
trast to  his  small,  vivacious  wife,  I\Iyra  Clark, 
who  had  lately  begun  the  long  legal  contest 
which  was  to  make  her  the  most  widely  known 
litigant  of  her  time. 

Mrs.  Gaines  was  the  daughter  of  Daniel 
Clark,  a  shrewd,  energetic  irishman,  who,  set- 
tling in  New  Orleans  early  in  the  last  century, 
became  in  a  few  }-ears  one  of  the  master-mer- 
chants of  that  city.  He  was  secretly  married 
in  1803  to  Zulime  des  Granges,  a  Creole  of 
remarkable  beauty,  who,  it  was  alleged,  had 
not  then  been  divorced  from  her  first  husband. 
Myra  Clark  was  born  of  this  connection,  and 
when,  in  181 3,  the  father  was  seized  with  a  fatal 
sickness,  he  made  a  will  in  her  favor,  in  which 
he  acknowledged  her  as  his  legitimate  daughter. 
This  will  could  not  be  found  after  Clark's  death, 
but  a  previous  one  was  produced  which  con- 
tained no  recognition  of  ]\Iyra.  Under  this 
instrument  Clark's  real  estate  in  New  Orleans 
was  administered  on  and  sold.  Nor 'did  his 
386 


A   President  without  a  Party 

daughter  j\Iyra,  then  a  child,  know  anything 
of  her  parentage  and  history  until  she  had 
grown  to  womanhood  and  hecome  the  wife  of 
William  W.  \\'hitney.  of  New  York.  Then 
she  at  once  began  the  prosecution  of  her  claim 
to  be  recognized  as  the  legitimate  daughter 
and  heiress  of  Clark,  and  to  recover  the  prop- 
erty which  had  been  left  by  her  father  and 
bought  by  the  city  of  New  Orleans.  When, 
after  the  death  of  her  first  husband,  General 
Gaines  addressed  her,  she  consented  to  become 
his  wife  only  upon  his  promise  to  aid  her  liti- 
gation. 

Mrs.  Gaines  survived  her  second  husband 
also,  and  many  residents  of  Washington  re- 
member her  as  a  little,  thin  old  woman,  whose 
cheerfulness,  vivacity,  and  energy  remained  to 
the  last.  General  Gaines  at  his  death  left  her 
wealthy,  but  years  of  litigation  ate  up  her 
money,  and  at  times  she  was  too  poor  to  pay 
the  court  costs ;  but  still  she  persevered  in  her 
determination  to  clear  the  stain  from  her 
mother's  name  and  to  secure  what  she  regarded 
as  her  right.  Deserted  by  one  counsel  after 
another,  she  struggled  on,  hopeful,  buoyant,  and 
confident  of  victory,  until  at  last,  in  1881,  when 
3S7 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

she  was  seventy-five  years  old,  she  received, 
in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court,  a  judgment 
against  the  citv  of  New  Orleans  for  the  better 
part  of  two  million  dollars.  Four  years  later 
she  died  while  the  case  was  on  appeal  to  the 
United  States  Supreme  Court. 

Another  delightful  centre  of  Washington  hos- 
pitality in  the  early  forties  was  the  house  of 
Thomas  H.  Benton,  whose  four  charming 
daughters  had  been  carefully  educated  under 
his  OW'U  supervision.  The  house  was  bought 
by  Colonel  Benton  from  a  Boston  gentleman, 
W'ho,  having  lived  much  in  London,  had  built 
it  with  thick  walls  and  spacious  rooms  and  beau- 
tified the  grounds  in  the  rear,  where  grass  and 
trees  were  framed  in  high  thick  growths  of  ivy 
and  scarlet  trumpet-creeper  which  covered  the 
garden  walls  and  stables.  There  the  Benton 
family  had  the  luxury  of  home  evenings,  and 
many  men  who  were  to  become  famous  found 
the  w^ay  to  their  draw'ing-room.  The  master 
had  a  cordial  and  kindly  welcome  for  all,  but 
he  was  not  w^illing  that  his  handsomest  daugh- 
ter. Miss  Jessie,  should  receive  the  attentions 
of  a  lieutenant  of  engineers,  John  C.  Fremont 
by  name,  and  of  a  sudden,  through  the  influence 
3S8 


A   President  without   a   Party 

of  Benton,  the  young"  officer  received  from  the 
War  Department  an  order  to  make  an  exami- 
nation of  the  river  Des  Aloines  on  the  Western 
frontier.  The  survey  was  made  quickly,  and 
soon  after  Fremont's  return  from  this  duty  there 
was  an  elopement  and  a  secret  marriage.  Ben- 
ton, though  angry  at  first,  soon  forgave,  and 
his  support  in  Congress  speedily  enabled  Fre- 
mont to  explore,  under  the  patronage  of  the 
general  government,  the  \'ast  region  beyond  the 
Rocky  Mountains  and  to  win  for  himself  the 
name  of  the  "  Pathfinder." 

A  very  different  wedding  from  Jessie  Ben- 
ton's was  that  of  Baron  de  Bodisco,  the  Rus- 
sian minister,  and  Harriet  Williams.  The  bride 
was  sixteen,  the  groom  past  sixty.  She  was  a 
beautiful  girl,  the  daughter  of  a  clerk  in  one 
of  the  departments,  and  wholly  unknown  to 
the  ^^'ashington  world.  But  that  she  was  to 
become  the  wife  of  Bodisco.  the  splendid,  as  he 
was  called,  was  enough,  and  he  willed  it  that 
she  w^as  not  to  be  seen  until  the  morning  of 
the  marriage.  Everything  connected  with  the 
wedding  was  of  his  planning.  The  bride  being 
very  voung,  he  determined  that  the  bridesmaids' 
should  l)e  very  young  also,  while,  as  the  bride- 
3S9 


Washington :    The   Capital   City- 
groom  was  old, — "  a  short  stont  man,  with  a 
broad  Cahnnck  face,  much  wrinkled  and  furred 
across  by  shaggy  whiskers," — the  groomsmen 
must  be  suited  to  his  dignity  and  age. 

The  best  man  was  Henry  Fox,  the  British 
minister,  "  a  withered,  cynical,  silent  man," 
Avhom  Byron  had  once  described  as  "  so  changed 
that  his  oldest  creditor  would  not  know  him," 
and  who,  with  the  thirteen-year  old  sister  of 
the  bride,  stood  next  to  the  groom.  Next  the 
bride  were  James  Buchanan  and  Jessie  Benton. 
Another  of  the  groomsmen  was  the  Chevalier 
de  Martini,  minister  from  the  Hague,  "  not 
young,  large,  placid,  easy  friends  with  every 
one,  and  in  a  softly  amused  state  of  smiles," 
with  the  eldest  of  the  bridesmaids,  a  girl  of 
sixteen,  the  daughter  of  Commodore  Morris. 
The  marriage  was  counted  a  risky  one,  but 
in  his  will  Bodisco  expressed  the  hope  that  his 
widow  would  marry  again  and  be  as  happy  as 
she  had  made  him. 

Following  this  union  of  April  and  December, 
the  Russian  legation,  then  located  at  George- 
town, became  the  scene  of  brilliant  weekly  en- 
tertainments, given,  it  was  said,  by  the  direction 
of  the  Emperor  Nicholas,  who  had  a  special 
390 


A   President  without   a   Party 

allowance  made  for  table-money.  There  was 
dancing  at  these  entertainments,  an  excellent 
supper,  and  a  room  devoted  to  whist,  at  which 
the  baron,  though  a  reckless  and  unskilled 
player,  used,  as  the  host  of  the  evening,  to 
take  a  hand.  One  night,  when  he  had  thus 
sat  down  to  pla}-  with  those  more  familiar  with 
the  srame,  he  lost  several  hundred  dollars,  and 
a  little  later,  at  the  supper-table  made  the 
unicjue  announcement :  "  Ladies  and  gentle- 
men," said  he,  "  it  is  my  disagreeable  duty  to 
tell  you  that  these  receptions  must  have  an  end, 
and  to  declare  them  at  an  end  for  the  present, 
cause  why?  The  fund  for  their  expend,  ladies 
and  gentlemen,  is  exhaust,  and  they  must  dis- 
continue." Which  they  did,  much  to  the  dis- 
gust of  General  Scott,  who  had  lieen  the  baron's 
partner,  and  was  a  considerable  loser  in  con- 
sequence. 

Public  opinion  was  not,  in  those  days,  so 
averse  to  gaming  in  Washington  as  in  most 
of  the  Northern  cities,  and  gambling-houses 
were  plentiful  on  Pennsylvania  Avenue.  Many 
of  these  establishments  had  club-rooms  attached, 
where  members  of  Congress  and  others  amused 
themselves  with  brag,  vingt-et-un,  and  whist. 
391 


A    President  without  a   Party 

Railways  were  in  their  infancy,  and  few  mem- 
bers of  Congress  could  afford  to  have  their 
families  with  them  during  the  sessions.  Thence 
arose  a  feature  of  capital  life  which  ended  only 
with  the  Civil  War.  This  was  the  custom  fol- 
lowed by  Senators  and  Representatives  of  form- 
ing what  were  termed  "  messes"  at  private 
boarding-houses,  into  which  no  other  guests 
were  admitted  without  their  consent.  These 
clubs  or  messes  were  made  up  of  members  of 
like  political  opinions,  in  order  that  confidential 
matters  might  always  be  discussed.  There  was 
a  common  parlor  for  the  gentlemen  of  the  mess, 
but  rarely  did  any  member  enjoy  the  luxury  of 
a  private  parlor,  even  though  he  had  his  wife 
with  him.  Many  of  the  mess-tables,  however, 
were  supplied  with  the  choicest  cheer  and  the 
rarest  wines,  and  occasionally  a  dinner  or  a 
dancing  party  would  be  given,  that  the  hospi- 
talities received  from  residents  might  be  re- 
ciprocated. 

As  Democrats  and  Whigs  preferred  to  mess 
separately,  so  Northern  and  Southern  men  usu- 
ally elected  to  associate  with  others  from  their 
own  section.  Dawson's  on  North  A  Street, 
Capitol  Hill,  was  for  many  years  famous  for 
393 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

The  best-known  gamester  for  many  years  was 
Edward  Pendleton,  a  member  of  the  distin- 
guished Virginia  family  of  that  name.  It  was 
this  courtly  gambler's  daily  wont  to  spread  in  his 
superl)  dining-room,  with  its  mahogany  of  an- 
tique pattern  and  solid  silver  service,  a  dinner 
of  rare  viands  and  rarer  wunes ;  and  around 
his  table,  at  which  he  presided  in  full  dress, 
were  often  gathered  some  of  the  most  dis- 
tinguished men  in  the  nation.  Scores  of  Sena- 
tors and  Representatives,  particularly  from  the 
South  and  West,  squandered  their  salaries  at 
tlie  gaming-tal)le,  and  some  impaired  their  pri- 
vate fortunes  by  the  same  indulgence.  Con- 
tractors and  Indian  traders  were  also  bold  and 
frequently  desperate  players.  Indeed,  though 
"  Congress  had  enacted  stringent  penal  laws 
to  prevent  gambling,  they  were  a  dead  letter, 
unless  some  poor  devil  made  a  complaint  of 
foul  play,  or  some  fleeced  blackleg  sought  ven- 
geance through  the  aid  of  the  grand  jury;  and 
then  the  matter  was  usually  compounded  by  the 
paying  of  money." 

Yet    much    of    the    recklessness    which    then 
prevailed  in  Washington  was  mainly  due  to  the 
conditions   which   have   since   become   obsolete. 
392 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

its  Southern  messes,  and  there  cong-regated 
those  congenial  spirits,  John  Randolph,  Na- 
thaniel Macon,  William  R.  King,  Willie  P. 
Mangnm,  and  others  not  now  remembered. 
The  head-quarters  of  the  South  was  subse- 
quently transferred  to  the  house  known  since 
1861  as  the  "  Old  Capitol  Prison,"  w'hich  was 
long  the  abiding-place  of  John  C.  Calhoun  and 
many  another  Southerner  of  influence  and  re- 
nown. The  Congressional  "  mess"  passed  away 
with  the  stage-coach, — the  increase  of  railways 
making  possible  the  now  general  custom  of 
wives  and  daughters  accompanying  husbands 
and  fathers  to  the  capital  and  spending  the  ses- 
sion with  them ;  but  while  it  lasted  its  unsocial, 
bachelor  life  was,  as  before  stated,  the  cause 
of  much  of  the  profligacy  that  formerly  pre- 
vailed in  Washington. 

Charles  Dickens,  a  flashily  dressed,  shock- 
headed  youth,  with  a  hint  of  the  cockney  about 
him,  in  the  spring  of  1842  paid  a  widely  her- 
alded visit  to  Washington,  which  during  the 
same  season  welcomed  Lord  Alorpeth,  after- 
wards Earl  of  Carlisle,  and  the  Prince  de  Join- 
ville,  younger  son  of  Louis  Phillipe.  King  of 
the  French.  The  prince,  being  the  first  repre- 
394 


A   President   without  a   Party 

sentative  of  royalty  who  had  ever  been  a  guest 
of  the  federal  city,  became  at  once  a  great  lion. 
Tradition  paints  him  a  remarkably  handsorjie 
man,  of  fine  physic|ne,  and  the  personification 
of  manly  grace.  He  always  wore  the  uniform 
of  the  regiment  of  which  he  was  honorary 
colonel,  and  as  he  drove  through  the  city  in 
the  barouche  of  the  period  or  essayed  short 
rambles  in  its  thoroughfares,  he  became  an 
object  of  much  interest.  The  prince,  two  dec- 
ades later,  made  a  second  visit  to  Washington, 
accompanied  by  his  young  nephews,  the  Comte 
de  Paris  and  the  Due  de  Chartres,  in  order  to 
take  part  in  the  Civil  War  and  serve  as  hon- 
orary aids  on  the  staff  of  General  McClellan. 
The  twenty  years  which  had  passed  since  his 
first  visit  had  thinned  his  llowing  locks,  while 
thirteen  years  of  exile  had  seamed  his  face,  but 
his  Parisian  vivacity  and  geniality  remained, 
and  again  served  to  make  him  a  prime  favorite 
in  the  social  circles  of  the  capital. 

Another  temporary  sojourner  in  Washington 
during  Tyler's  time  was  John  Howard  Payne. 
The  author  of  "  Home  Sweet  Home"  appeared 
at  the  capital  in  the  fall  of  1841.  seeking  an 
api)ointment  in  the  diplomatic  or  consular  ser- 
395 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

vice.  A  deliglitful  companion,  he  made  instant 
friends  of  his  fellow-knights  of  the  pen,  but 
encountered  an  unexpected  obstacle  in  Secre- 
tary Webster,  who,  having  conceived  a  violent 
prejudice  against  the  poet,  refused  to  do  any- 
thing for  him.  Finally,  however,  Webster  was 
called  to  Boston  on  business,  leaving  his  son 
Fletcher  acting  Secretary  of  State.  Payne's 
friends,  during  Webster's  absence,  managed  to 
have  him  appointed  consul  at  Tunis,  and  he 
was  on  his  way  to  his  post  before  the  Secretary 
returned  to  Washington.  Payne  remained  at 
the  ancient  African  city  during  the  Adminis- 
trations of  Tyler,  Polk,  and  Taylor,  and  there 
he  died  in  April,  1852.  Thirty  years  after- 
wards \Mlliam  W.  Corcoran,  who  personally 
knew  him,  secured  permission  to  remove  his 
body,  and  in  June,  1883,  it  was  brought  back 
to  his  native  country.  A  handsome  monument 
now  marks  its  last  resting-place  in  Oak  Hill 
Cemetery. 

One  of  those  who  was  most  active  in  securing 
Payne's  appointment  to  the  Tunis  consulship 
was  Francis  Bacon,  then  the  \\^ashington  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  American,  for 
which  he  wrote  over  the  initials  R.  M.  T.  H., 
396 


A   President   without   a   Party 

— Regular  Member  of  the  Third  House.  Bacon 
wielded  a  virile  pen,  and  when  he  chose  to 
do  so,  could  condense  a  column  of  denuncia- 
tion, satire,  and  sarcasm  into  a  single  para- 
graph. His  style  in  some  respects  was  very 
like  that  of  Amos  Kendall,  who  in  1840  had 
retired  from  Van  Buren's  Cabinet  to  establish 
a  political  periodical  called  Kendall's  Expositor. 
A  year  later  Kendall  founded  the  Union  Demo- 
crat, a  weekly  in  which  the  ^^d^ig  party  and 
all  of  its  members  were  vigorously  assailed, 
but  both  of  these  journals  were  soon  discon- 
tinued in  order  that  their  owner  might  devote 
all  of  his  time  to  the  promotion  and  development 
of  the  telegraph,  in  which  he  had  become  as- 
sociated with  the  inventor,  Samuel  F.  B.  Morse. 
The  story  of  IMorse's  long  fight  for  the  recog- 
nition and  adoption  of  his  system  makes  ro- 
mance of  the  best  sort.  It  was  in  September, 
1837,  that  he  first  made  a  formal  request  to 
Congress  for  aid  to  build  a  telegraph  line. 
Failure  and  ridicule  were  his  reward,  yet.  pen- 
niless and  almost  friendless,  he  persisted  in 
bringing  the  matter  before  Congress  after  Con- 
gress, until,  at  last,  a  bill  granting  him  thirty 
thousand  dollars  was  favorably  reported  from 
397 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

the  committee  and  passed  by  the  House  in 
February,  1842.  The  bill  then  went  to  the 
Senate.  There  action  upon  it  was  delayed,  and 
late  on  the  last  night  of  the  session  Morse  left 
the  Capitol  with  little  hopes  of  its  passage.  He 
returned  to  his  hotel,  counted  his  money,  and 
found  that  after  paying  his  expenses  to  New 
York  he  would  have  less  than  a  dollar  left. 
Then  he  went  to  bed,  sad  but  not  entirely  hope- 
less, for,  notwithstanding  all  his  trials  and  dis- 
appointments, confidence  in  his  ultimate  success 
never  deserted  him.  The  next  morning,  as  he 
was  going  to  breakfast,  a  messenger  met  him 
with  the  news  that  his  bill  had  been  rushed 
through  the  Senate  without  division  on  the 
night  of  March  3,  1842. 

The  construction  of  the  experimental  line 
from  Baltimore  to  Washington,  a  distance  of 
forty  miles,  was  quickly  accomplished,  and  by 
the  end  of  May,  1842,  communication  between 
the  two  cities  was  completed  and  practically 
perfect.  The  first  public  message  sent  over  the 
line  was  transmitted,  on  May  24.  by  Annie  G. 
Ellsworth,  daughter  of  Henry  L.  Ellsworth, 
the  Commissioner  of  Patents  and  Morse's  friend 
when  he  most  needed  friends.  She  selected  the 
398 


A  President  without  a  Party- 
words,  "What  hath  God  wrouglit !"  and  the 
strip  of  paper  on  which  the  telegraphic  charac- 
ters of  the  message  were  printed  is  now  pre- 
served in  the  archives  of  the  Hartford  Athe- 
naeum. The  success  of  the  telegraph  made 
both  ]\Iorse  and  Kendall  rich  men.  The  latter 
spent  his  last  years  in  ^^'ashington  and  at  his 
nearby  country-seat,  Kendall  Green,  active  in 
works  of  philanthropy, — the  Washington  Deaf 
and  Dumb  Asylum  was  founded  by  him, — and, 
during  the  Civil  War,  earnest  and  untiring  in 
his  support  of  the  Union. 

WHien  Webster  retired  from  Tyler's  Cabinet, 
in  the  spring  of  1843,  Hugh  S.  Legare  suc- 
ceeded him  as  Secretary  of  State,  the  latter's 
post  as  Attorney-General  being  afterwards 
filled  by  the  appointment  of  John  Nelson,  of 
Maryland.  James  M.  Porter,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  at  the  same  time  appointed  to  the  Secretary- 
ship of  War  made  vacant  by  the  transfer  of 
John  C.  Spencer  to  tlie  Treasury  Department. 
Legare  died  suddenly  in  June,  1843.  whereupon 
Abel  Upshur  was  made  Secretary  of  State  and 
David  Henshaw,  of  Massachusetts,  Secretary 
of  the  Navy.  The  nominations  of  Porter  and 
Henshaw  were  subsequently  rejected  by  the 
399 


Washington  :    The   Capital    City 

Senate,  and  the}^  were  replaced  by  William  Wil- 
kins,  of  Pennsylvania,  and  Thomas  W.  Gilmer, 
of  Virginia,  while  early  in  the  following  year 
vSpencer  relinquished  the  Treasury  portfolio  to 
George   M.    Bibb,   of  Kentucky. 

These  numerous  changes  did  not  mark  the 
end  of  Tyler's  cabinet-making.  The  explosion 
of  a  cannon  on  the  war-steamer  "  Princeton," 
while  returning  from  a  pleasure  excursion  down 
the  Potomac,  on  February  28,  1844,  killed  Sec- 
retaries Upshur  and  Gilmer,  with  six  others, 
while  the  President  and  several  prominent  legis- 
lators and  high  officials.  Colonel  Benton  among 
the  number.  Jiad  a  narrow  escape  from  death. 
Following  this  tragedy  and  the  burial  of  the 
victims,  Tyler's  Cabinet  was  further  reorgan- 
ized by  the  appointment  of  John  Y.  Mason,  of 
Virginia,  as  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  and  of  John 
C.  Calhoun  as  Secretary  of  State.  The  latter 
had  ceased  to  be  a  Senator  in  March,  1843,  ^"^ 
was  then  living  in  retirement  in  South  Carolina. 
He  owed  his  recall  to  public  life  to  Henry  A. 
Wise,  Tyler's  favorite  adviser.  "  The  most  im- 
portant work  for  you  to  do,"  \\'ise  is  reported 
to  have  said  to  the  President,  "  is  the  annexation 
of  Texas.  The  man  for  that  work  is  John  C. 
400 


A   President  without  a   Party 

Callionn  as  Secretary  of  State.  Send  for  him 
at  once." 

Tyler,  somewhat  against  his  will,  sent  for  Cal- 
houn, who  entered  g-ladly  upon  the  task  that 
had  been  set  for  him.  Nine  years  before,  Texas, 
peopled  chiefly  by  emigrants  from  the  Southern 
States,  had  won  its  independence  from  Mexico. 
Later  it  had  asked  for  admission  to  Statehood. 
Calhoun  saw  in  its  annexation  a  measure  full 
of  importance  to  the  slave  interest,  of  which 
he  had  now  become  the  most  prominent  cham- 
pion, for  if,  by  the  acquisition  of  Oregon,  the 
Northern  States  should  secure  ample  room  for 
expansion  beyond  the  Rocky  Mountains,  then 
the  Southern  States  must  have  Texas  as  a 
counterpoise,  or  else  the  existence  of  slavery 
would  be  imperilled.  Tyler  was  of  the  same 
mind  as  Calhoun,  and  early  in  his  Administra- 
tion had  begun  negotiations  with  the  Texan  au- 
thorities. 

These  negotiations  Calhoun  took  in  hand  as 

soon  as  he  became  Secretary  of  State,  and  he 

pushed  them  with  so  much  energy  and  despatch 

that  on  April  12,  1S44,  a  treaty  Avas  concluded 

V\'ith   the  government  of  Texas   jM'oviding   for 

the  annexation.     This  treaty   was  rejected  by 
I.— 26  401 


Washington :    The   Capital   City 

the  Senate  for  want  of  a  two-thirds  vote,  all 
of  the  Whigs  and  seven  of  the  Democrats  voting 
against  it.  But  it  made  the  acquisition  of  Texas 
a  pivotal  question  in  the  Presidential  contest  of 
1844,  and  it  gave  Calhoun,  as  he  had  foreseen 
that  it  would,  the  opportunity  to  be  finally  and 
fully  avenged  upon  his  old  rival.  Van  Buren. 

The  ex-President,  who  had  devoted  his  years 
of  retirement  to  the  restoration  of  his  shattered 
prestige,  would  have  been  renominated  by  the 
Democrats  had  not  Calhoun,  at  the  proper  mo- 
ment, suggested  that  he  be  adroitly  questioned 
on  the  annexation  question  in  a  letter  of  seeming 
friendly  inquiry  written  him  by  one  Hamett,  a 
member  of  the  House  from  Mississippi.  The  sa- 
gacious Van  Buren  was  quick  to  perceive  that  a 
pit  had  been  dug  for  him,  but  he  answered  the 
Hamett  letter  with  candor  and  dignity.  He 
favored  the  annexation-  of  Texas  when  it  could 
be  brought  about  peacefully  and  with  honor,  but 
opposed  it  at  that  time,  when  it  would  surely 
be  followed  by  a  war  with  ^Mexico. 

Van  Buren's  manly  avowal  lost  him  many 
Southern  supporters,  and,  though  he  counted 
a  clear  majority  of  delegates,  when  the  Demo- 
cratic national  convention  assembled  in  Balti- 
402 


A  President  without  a  Party- 
more,  on  Alay  27,  1844,  a  shrewd  enforcement 
of  the  two-thirds  rule  deprived  him  of  this  ad- 
vantage over  his  rivals.  Prolonged  balloting 
produced  much  bad  feeling  between  the  sup- 
porters of  \'an  Buren  and  his  chief  competi- 
tor, Cass.  On  the  eighth  ballot  forty-four  votes 
were  cast  for  James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee.  The 
latter,  up  to  that  time,  had  received  public  men- 
tion only  as  a  possible  candidate  for  Vice- 
President,  but  on  the  ninth  ballot,  by  one  of 
those  remarkable  w'hirls  of  sentiment  that  some- 
times take  hold  of  bodies  of  men,  backed  by  the 
cunning  manipulation  of  Robert  J.  Walker  and 
other  Southern  politicians,  he  was  unanimously 
nominated.  Polk  had  been  Speaker  of  the  House 
and  governor  of  his  State,  but  was  then  living 
in  complete  retirement.  "  The  nomination," 
says  Benton.  "  was  a  surprise  and  marvel  to  the 
country." 

]\Ieanwhile.  Clay,  now  at  the  flood-tide  of 
his  popularity,  had  been  nominated  by  accla- 
mation by  the  Whigs,  who,  at  the  outset, 
counted  on  an  easy  ^'ictory.  They  counted 
amiss,  for  the  campaign  was  not  half  over 
when  Cla}-  split  up^n  the  rock  that  had  ])rought 
Van  Buren  to  grief  before  it  began.  The  W  hig 
403 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

platform  ^vas  silent  upon  the  subject  of  the 
annexation  of  Texas.  Subsequently,  however, 
Clay  wrote  his  so-called  "  Raleigh  letter."  in 
which  he  announced  his  opposition  to  annexa- 
tion ;  then,  alarmed  by  the  dissatisfaction  of 
his  friends  in  the  South,  he  wrote  again,  this 
time  the  "  Alabama  letter,"  in  which  he  tem- 
porized with  the  burning"  question.  He  could 
not  have  contributed  more  effectively  to  his 
own  undoing.  His  vacillating  course  failed  to 
reinstate  him  in  Southern  favor,  and  it  cost 
him   much   of  his   Northern   support. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  Clay  would 
have  been  elected  had  there  not  arisen  to  plague 
him  one  of  those  bitter  personal  resentments 
which  are  always  the  price  paid  for  long-con- 
tinued leadership,  and  which  now  and  then  lend 
a  curious,  pathetic  interest  to  our  political  an- 
nals. Clay  in  some  way  had  given  serious 
offence  to  J^nies  G.  Birney.  The  exact  cause 
of  this  hostility  had  never  been  revealed,  nor 
did  Clay  himself,  so  he  asserted,  ever  under- 
stand it.  Birney,  however,  made  no  secret  of 
it.  He  was  an  active  abolitionist,  and  there  was, 
as  had  been  shown  in  the  preceding  campaign, 

some  trifling  strength  in  the  so-called  Abolition 
404 


A    President  without  a   Party 

party  in  the  North.  Its  members  met  in  con- 
vention and  nominated  Birney  for  President, 
as  they  had  done  in  1840.  Birney  did  not  want 
to  run  again,  but  saw  in  his  candidacy  a  chance 
to  repay  Clay  for  the  sHght  or  whatever  it 
was  which  had  caused  the  personal  enmity. 
He,  therefore,  ran.  and  had  such  revensfe  as 
caused  the  ^^'hig  party  to  lose  the  Presidency. 

Birney's  popular  vote  of  sixty-two  thousand 
three  hundred  was  sufficient  to  turn  New  York 
and  Michigan  from  the  Wliigs  and  to  give 
Polk  a  majority  of  sixty-five  in  the  Electoral 
College.  And  so  tall  "  Harr}^  of  the  Slashes," 
the  ideal  American,  chivalrous  and  tender,  was 
beaten  by  one  whose  qualifications  were,  to  the 
masses,  an  interrogation  point.  Clay  was  heart- 
broken at  his  unlooked-for  defeat.  Youth  and 
hope  were  no  longer  his.  ''  The  blow  that  has 
fallen  on  our  country  is  very  heavy,"  he  wrote 
to  a  friend.  "  I  hope  she  may  recover  from 
it,  but  I  confess  that  the  prospect  is  dark  and 
discouraging."  These  were  the  words  of  a 
disappointed  man.  Clay's  political  sun,  save 
for  a  faint  glimmer  on  the  horizon  in  1848, 
had  set  never  to  rise  again. 

Polk  faced  the  Presidency  pledged  to  secure 
405 


Washington  :    The   Capital   City 

the  annexation  of  Texas  at  all  hazards,  but  when 
he  took  office  that  measure  had  already  become 
an  accomplished  fact.  Near  the  close  of  the 
last  session  of  the  Thirty-eighth  Congress,  with 
which  the  Tyler  .Vdministration  ended,  a  reso- 
lution for  the  annexation  of  Texas  was,  at 
ihe  suggestion  of  Calhoun,  introduced  in  both 
branches.  It  passed  the  House  after  a  resolute 
resistance,  and  was  discussed,  amended,  and 
adopted  by  the  Senate.  It  provided  in  its  final 
form  for  the  extension  of  the  Missouri  Com- 
promise line  westward  through  the  Texan  ter- 
ritory to  be  acquired  by  the  annexation.  Xorth 
of  that  line  slavery  was  to  be  prohibited ;  south 
of  it  the  question  was  to  be  determined  by  the 
people  living  on  the  spot.  The  resolution 
reached  the  President  on  March  3,  1845,  ^^^^ 
was  immediately  approved  by  him.  The  fol- 
lowing day,  Tyler's  last  in  office,  a  messenger 
was  despatched  to  Texas  bearing  that  portion 
of  it  which  had  only  to  be  accepted  to  secure 
annexation. 

Another  important  act  of  Tyler's  final  days 

in  office  was  the  appointment  of  Levi  W^oodbury 

to  succeed  the  venerable  Justice  Story.     Before 

that  he  had   made  two  other  appointments  to 

406 


A    President  without   a   Party 

the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court, — Samuel  Nel- 
son, of  New  York,  who,  in  1843,  succeeded 
Justice  Th()m])Son,  and  Robert  C.  Grier,  of 
Pennsylvania,  who,  a  year  later,  ^vas  given  the 
seat  left  vacant  by  the  death  of  Justice  Bald- 
win. Tyler  had  first  offered  Baldwin's  place 
to  John  Sargent,  who  had  served  with  him  in 
Congress  and  whose  character  and  abilities  he 
held  in  high  regard.  "  I  am  more  than  sixty 
years  of  age,  my  health  is  not  firm,  and  I  have 
made  up  my  mind  to  accept  no  public  station," 
said  Sargent,  in  declining  the  honor.  "  Offer 
the  place  to  Mr.  Binney,  but  do  not  inform  him 
that  it  has  been  tendered  to  me  or  that  I  have 
declined  it."  Sargent's  suggestion  was  acted 
on, — it  is  Henry  A.  Wise  who  tells  the  story, 
— and  the  vacant  scat  was  offered  to  Binney, 
who  declined  it  for  the  same  reasons  advanced 
by  Sargent,  adding,  '*  Offer  it  to  Mr.  Sargent ; 
he  would  be  a  conspicuously  fit  appointment, 
but  do  not  tell  him  that  I  have  declined  it." 
Thus,  unconscious  of  the  other's  action,  did 
each  of  two  great  lawyers  bear  generous  wit- 
ness to  the  talents  of  his  rival. 

The  last  night  of  February,    1845,  the  out- 
going President  and  his  young  and  handsome 
407 


Washington :  The  Capital  City- 
wife  gave  a  farewell  ball  at  the  White  House 
in  honor  of  his  successor.  The  incoming  Presi- 
dent was  prevented  from  attending  by  the  ill- 
ness of  his  wife,  but  the  Vice-President-elect, 
George  M.  Dallas,  with  his  crown  of  snow- 
white  hair,  towered  above  all  other  guests,  save 
General  Scott  and  "  Long"  John  Went  worth. 
There  was  dancing  in  the  East  Room,  jNIrs. 
Tyler  and  Secretary  Wilkins  leading  in  the  first 
quadrille.  So  ended  the  social  reign  of  the 
Tylers.  Four  days  later  the  President  and  his 
family  set  out  for  their  Virginia  farm,  and 
Washington  saw  them  no  more. 


END    OF    VOL.    I 


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